Dementia and football: Brain injury study to begin in January

[Abdullah719]

A long-awaited study into the links between heading a football and brain damage will start in January, the Football Association has announced.

The doctor who claimed former striker Jeff Astle died because of repeated head trauma is to lead the study.

Dr Willie Stewart says his report would aim to "provide some understanding of the long-term health impact of football within the next two to three years".

It will be titled 'Football's Influence on Lifelong Health and Dementia Risk'.

Dr Stewart was appointed by the FA and Professional Footballers' Association (PFA), who had invited applications for independent research in March.

He said: "In the past decade there have been growing concerns around perceived increased risk of dementia through participation in contact sports, however, research data to support and quantify this risk have been lacking."

In the recent BBC documentary Alan Shearer: Dementia, Football and Me, the former England captain highlighted the case of Astle, the West Brom and England player who developed dementia and died in 2002 at the age of 59.

The inquest into Astle's death in 2002 found that repeatedly heading heavy leather footballs had contributed to trauma to his brain.

After the inquest, research was commissioned by the FA and the PFA but it was later dropped because of what were said to be technical flaws.

Astle's family has campaigned for the football authorities to launch a comprehensive research programme.

FA chief executive Martin Glenn said the new research "will be one the most comprehensive studies ever commissioned into the long-term health of former footballers".

He added: "Dementia can have a devastating effect and, as the governing body of English football, we felt compelled to commission a significant new study in order to fully understand if there are any potential risks associated with playing the game."

http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/42094034

 

[MenInG]

So is the FA/FIFA going to change the rules of football if it is found that head injuries can occur in football?

 

[MenInG]

Footballers in England are to be limited to 10 "higher force" headers a week in training under new guidelines for the upcoming season.

It comes after "multiple studies" were conducted into concerns about the long-term dangers of heading.

In 2019, a study found professional footballers more likely to suffer from neurodegenerative brain disease.

The new guidance is for professional and amateur players across England from the start of the 2021-22 season.

BBC

 

[OMB]

Didn't stop Boxing, MMA, Wrestling so far. What claim can football and dementia have ?

 

[Bhaijaan]

Sportspersons are not important for humanity. If tomorrow we are under threat, we must proptect our sharpest minds. We can do away with sportspersons however as they are merely for amusement and oneupmanship for the insecure beta men of the internet.

 

[OldWarHorse]

Didn't stop Boxing, MMA, Wrestling so far. What claim can football and dementia have ?

Heading a ball million times a day? Kids starting from under 8 age groups doing that all the way through adulthood doesnt seem that healthy

 

[Markhor]

Sportspersons are not important for humanity. If tomorrow we are under threat, we must proptect our sharpest minds. We can do away with sportspersons however as they are merely for amusement and oneupmanship for the insecure beta men of the internet.

Poor taste to be using this thread for cheap jokes.

There are retired sportsmen reduced to vegetables in their old age as the link between repeated head trauma and dementia is being increasingly proven.

In football alone I can think of three examples - Ray Kennedy, Stan Bowles and Bob Paisley. They used to literally head the ball like battering rams, back when there was total ignorance of head trauma that they'd receive practically no recovery time. Those footballs were hard as hell too, so imagine heading it hundreds of times every year for 20-25 years.

It is an awful, awful disease that strips you of every precious memory in your life and a prolonged torture for loved ones.

 

[Bhaijaan]

Poor taste to be using this thread for cheap jokes.

There are retired sportsmen reduced to vegetables in their old age as the link between repeated head trauma and dementia is being increasingly proven.

In football alone I can think of three examples - Ray Kennedy, Stan Bowles and Bob Paisley. They used to literally head the ball like battering rams, back when there was total ignorance of head trauma that they'd receive practically no recovery time. Those footballs were hard as hell too, so imagine heading it hundreds of times every year for 20-25 years.

It is an awful, awful disease that strips you of every precious memory in your life and a prolonged torture for loved ones.

I understand however sports are for amusement and players enrol into the game knowing the dangers associated with it.

Yes, it's understandable that dangerous sports are not everyone's cup of tea.

My solution is that athletes of such sports must be barred from raising a family and must only be allowed to marry if their spouse gives written consent that they will be able to deal with any possible life altering medical conditions of their beloved wife/husband arising from the sport itself.

Genetically gifted athletes must be used for breeding. Although physical labour is expected to be handled by robots in the near future but just in case we are invaded by aliens and are challenged into a classic 1 on 1 dual like in Troy, we must have able shoulders to fall back on.

 

[gani999]

Yes, it's understandable that dangerous sports are not everyone's cup of tea.

My solution is that athletes of such sports must be barred from raising a family and must only be allowed to marry if their spouse gives written consent that they will be able to deal with any possible life altering medical conditions of their beloved wife/husband arising from the sport itself.

.

Define dangerous.

You can lose your life even playing snooker, if your opponent cues a ball with high velocity and it strikes you on the head. Would that make it dangerous, and so should snooker players be barred from raising families?

And while we are at it, why only sports? People who drive lorries, taxis drivers, airline pilots, construction workers and several others are all in potentially dangerous professions that can end their lives. Even doctors can contract diseases from their patients and die.

Should all of them be barred from raising families, going by your argument?

Your argument makes no sense.

 

[OMB]

Heading a ball million times a day? Kids starting from under 8 age groups doing that all the way through adulthood doesnt seem that healthy

I never said football doesn't cause dementia and such a thing should be ignored.
All I stated is a fact that claim of football causing dementia may not work as similar claims for boxing MMA and Wrestling never did much?

 

[cric_man]

Heading a ball million times a day? Kids starting from under 8 age groups doing that all the way through adulthood doesnt seem that healthy

In the US, heading a ball in soccer is banned for kids under 12 (6th grade).

 

[KingKhanWC]

Good news.

The legend Alan Shearer has already done a great docu on this , a must watch. But extra research will be great too.