Is soccer as risky as boxing in causing brain damage?

[Redback Rasta]

An excellent question and one I have wondered about for some time, and then I stumbled on this article >>>

Football causing brain damage that can lead to dementia and early death: UCL study

Professional football is as risky as boxing in causing brain damage that can lead to dementia and early death, scientists have suggested.

Years of heading the ball can cause the same type of progressive damage as suffered by heavyweight prizefighters, according to the study by University College London.

It called for "urgent" research to establish whether repeated sub-concussive head impacts caused by heading may also be prompting dementia in the amateur game. The daughter of the former England striker Jeff Astle, who died of a degenerative brain disease aged 59, criticised the football authorities'"indefensible and disgraceful" response to the issue.

The London Telegraph launched a campaign last year urging the football authorities to commission independent research with a large sample of former players into whether football increases the risk of degenerative brain diseases.

Researchers conducted post mortem examinations of the brains of five professional players, and one "committed" amateur, who had all suffered from dementia.

The study found evidence of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), which can be caused by repeated blows to the head and is known to lead to dementia. The rate of CTE in the brains of the footballers, whose careers had averaged 26 years, was greater than the 12 per cent average found in the general population.

The players had also developed dementia around their mid-sixties, an average of 10 years earlier than most people with the condition. Dr Helen Ling, who led the research, said this was the first time CTE had been confirmed in retired footballers.

"These players had the same pathology as boxers," she said. "The most pressing question now is to ask how common dementia is among retired footballers."

Critics say the sport's governing body has been slow to act on the possible risk from heading, despite the long list of famous players who have suffered from dementia. These include Danny Blanchflower, the former Tottenham captain, Bob Paisley, the former Liverpool manager, and Astle.

The former West Bromwich striker's daughter welcomed the study, but said she was not surprised. "I think that's what is so very frustrating, the fact that it's nearly 15 years since my dad died and the fact that nothing from any footballing authorities has been done. It is really indefensible and disgraceful."

Professor Huw Morris, a consultant neurologist at the Royal Free Hospital in north London, said footballers may not only be damaging their brains from heading, but also from rapid decelerations while playing and impacts with other bodies.

Last December the Professional Footballers' Association called on the authorities to consider banning children under the age of 10 from heading the ball, following research by the University of Stirling which found players suffered memory impairment after heading.

The FA's head of medicine, Dr Charlotte Cowie, welcomed the new study, which is published in the journal Acta Neuropathalogica, and said the governing body backed further research into the issue.

http://www.watoday.com.au/sport/soccer/ ... ud3ok.html

[Redback Rasta]

Sadly former players of many sports - including soccer, rugby, AFL football and American gridiron - are now reporting increasing incidences of brain damage. Boxing isn't alone in this area.

[DA GOOSE]

Interesting.....I still doubt it's as bad as boxing regarding causing brain damage. Yu would think a boxer suffers more blows to the head causing brain stem trauma than the limited amount of times a soccer player heads a ball. Also temple shots in boxing are quite common whereas in soccer they head the ball with the top of the head where the skull is thicker.

[p4p1]

I remember a psychotherapist telling me about this as well. It's definitely very interesting.

[Beltane]

The problem is that the effects do not manifest themselves to many years and even decades later.

[Like a Boss]

The problem is that the effects do not manifest themselves to many years and even decades later.

Exactly right.

[Chuck1052]

Both heading the ball and collisions with other players in football (soccer) are possible causes of brain damage among players. I am surprised that the collisions are not mentioned very much as a possible cause.

- Chuck Johnston

[Redback Rasta]

Both heading the ball and collisions with other players in football (soccer) are possible causes of brain damage among players. I am surprised that the collisions are not mentioned very much as a possible cause.

- Chuck Johnston

Some of the head clashes in soccer aerial duels are pretty horrendous. But the impact a ball has on your head when a keeper has kicked it over 50 metres can't be good for you either. Particularly when it is occurring multiple times every week of the season.