For the first fourth dimension , scientistsmay have find evidencethat repeatedly heading the ball during soccer could lead to neurological conditions later on in biography , including chronic traumatic encephalopathy ( CTE ) and dementedness .
Thelatest research , conduct in the UK , assess a little sample of 14 hit the hay professional soccer ( football game ) players in their later geezerhood of biography , who all grow dementedness . Post - mortems of six of the ex - instrumentalist showed that two - third showed grounds of CTE – much mellow than the background rate of the shape – and all showed signs of Alzheimer ’s . While the sample distribution size is admittedly minor , it may point to a wide-eyed issue of neurological damage within association football .
“ This is the first prison term CTE has been confirm in a group of retired footballers,”explainedUniversity College London ’s Dr Helen Ling , who led the study issue in the journalActa Neuropathologica . “ Our findings of CTE in sack out footballer suggest a likely link between play [ association football ] and the development of degenerative brainiac pathologies in ulterior life . ”
Chronic traumatic encephalopathy is a reformist neurodegenerative disease cause by replicate bang to the head . Boston University Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy / Wikimedia Commons
Dr Ling expire on to United States Department of State , however , that “ it is crucial to note that we only studied a little number of retired footballers with dementedness and that we still do not know how common dementedness is among footballers . ” This means that while the study is interesting , and could be significant in confirming what much anecdotal grounds already suggests , it can not be said that the link is proven in all association football players , and more studies should be conducted .
It does , however , raiseimportant questionsabout the potential for brain accidental injury and long - term wrong in a sport that is in general get word as far less dangerous than most other contact sports . The voltage for CTE in sports such as American football , boxing , and rugger is already well established , but these all regard heavy contact and knocks to the head . association football , on the other helping hand , is usually accepted as being unlike to these body process in that physical contact is minor in comparison , the balls are lenient and lighter , and loss of consciousness is rare .
It is also authoritative to stress that nearly all the association football players assess in the study were professional players , apart from one someone who , while unskilled , represent the sport every season for 23 year . The risk of serious neurologic equipment casualty to those who run it as a hobby is therefore not considered significant , though fear may be needed for vernal players whose brains are still modernize and may be more prostrate to hurt .
