Naked Science Forum

General Science => General Science => Topic started by: thedoc on 05/11/2012 17:17:19

Title: How dangerous is American Football?
Post by: thedoc on 05/11/2012 17:17:19
The multiple knocks to the head that NFL players receive during their careers may increase their chance of death from diseases linked to cell damage in the brain, according to a new study...

Read the whole story on our  website by clicking here (http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/content/news-archive/news/2685/)

  
Title: Re: How dangerous is American Football?
Post by: RD on 05/11/2012 18:08:00
soccer looks equally bad for those who head the ball ...

Quote
Nearly half of professional footballers suffer brain damage as a result of heading the ball ...
The study, published in the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology, has found that soccer players suffer the same number of concussions as American footballers. 
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/176392.stm

That may explain Beckhamisms [:)] ... http://uk.news.yahoo.com/beckham-thick-says-zealand-pm-022406047.html


This phenomenon has long been recognised in Scotland ...
Quote
"Heid the baw" [head the ball] : Halfwit, idiot, silly or stupid person.
http://www.glasgowvant.com/glaswegian-dictionary-terms-and-phrases/
Title: Re: How dangerous is American Football?
Post by: CliffordK on 05/11/2012 18:31:59
I had heard of the Alzheimer's connection.
Boxers are also noted for neural problems, Punch Drunk Syndrome (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dementia_pugilistica)

I am surprised the study is finding an increase in ALS (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amyotrophic_lateral_sclerosis), although I wonder if it was statistically significant.