Hits to the head of football players, disorders and dementia

Study of Hospital clinic connected that being a professional football player is a risk factor for the development, decades after retirement, of sleep disorders in the phase REM and dementia from repeated blows to the head during play, which advises the implementation of preventive measures, especially from an early age.

The study, published in the journal journal of neurology, the doctor coordinated it Álex Iranzo, neurologist at the Clinical Hospital and head of the clinical neurophysiology group at the IDIBAPS research center, and consisted of a study of data from 228 male patients treated for REM sleep disorder.

Under normal conditions, a person does not move or speak at this stage, but sufferers of this disorder, who are mostly men over 50 years of age, make sudden movements, speak and have recurring nightmares.

Scientific evidence has already shown that this type of disorder leads to dementia with bodies Lewy (disturbed thinking, unpredictable changes in attention) or Parkinson’s disease.

Study of Clinic analyzed 228 men who were diagnosed with a sleep disorder between 1994 and 2022 REM and noted that six (2.63%) were professional soccer players 40 years ago with an average career of 13 years.

Of the six retired footballers, five ended up developing Parkinson’s disease or dementia with the bodiese lewy four years after REM sleep disorder, 44 years after leaving football.

The data were compared with another group of 228 men with other nonphasic sleep disorders. REM and none of them were footballers (0%), while in the general population the percentage of men who were professional footballers during the 1960s and 1970s was 0.062%.

In doing so, the researchers found that although soccer players who ended up with REM disorders and dementia were a minority, they represented a higher percentage compared to the general population.

Therefore, “REM sleep disorder is statistically associated with playing football and later with the development of neurodegenerative disease, and although we don’t know why this happens, one hypothesis is blows to the head,” Iranzo said.

Medical consultant Medicine doosports clinic Gil Rodas For his part, he noted that this and other studies on contact sports confirm the need to apply preventive measures to reduce blows to the head.

Rodas indicated that, in the case of head trauma due to a collision between two players during a ball dispute, a six-day deadline should be observed if no complications are observed before returning to competition.

In this gradual recovery, you must wait 24 hours and, if there are no symptoms, start from the second day only with aerobic exercises (such as cycling) and gradually increase physical activity.

protect children
Rodas pointed out that women and children are exposed to a greater risk of concussion due to blows, so they “must be taken care of more”.

In this sense, he appreciates initiatives such as those already implemented by the English Football Association to limit minors being hit in the head during training.

Other studies have noted that the incidence of head injuries is lower in sports where players wear helmets, such as American football or ice hockey, although experts rule out that these or similar safeguards could apply to football.

“It’s more a matter of education to avoid conflicts and promote i“fair play”, although muscle physiotherapy strategies that strengthen the neck and reduce the traumatic impact on the head can also be applied,” Iranzo pointed out.