A ground-breaking study of concussion in park and elite AFL footballers has revealed that their on-field head clashes are just as damaging as those experienced in America's National Football League.

Dr Alan Pearce, a neuroscientist with Deakin University's School of Psychology, has uncovered major concerns through comparing 40 footballers, including greats of the 1980s and 1990s, against 20 healthy people of the same age.

North Melbourne's Lachlan Hansen comes off after suffering suspected concussion at Etihad Stadium. Credit:Sebastian Costanzo

''It's logical to think that the AFL was not the same as the NFL and the impact is not the same as the NFL. But what we are seeing is an impact to the head is the same and that there are some long-term changes in the brain that we are seeing,'' Pearce said.

''Biomechanically, it may not be the same but it is having the same effect long term. I know the AFL will say they don't hit with their head the way the NFL do, and I agree with that, but a concussion is a concussion regardless of where it comes from.''