Monday, August 02, 2021
Medics for header ban
Defense lawyers actively increase their risk of dementia
In England, research has been going on for some time into how dangerous headers are for the human brain. A study with former footballers now shows: Defenders are particularly at risk. The request of a participating physician is clear.
Defenders have a disproportionately higher risk than their teammates of developing dementia. This is the result of a study by the University of Glasgow that has been published. This investigated the connection between headballs and subsequent health consequences. As defenders in football headers the most, on average, they are more at risk.
“The repeated knocking of a football could lead to an increased risk of dementia,” said neuropathologist William Stewart: “Unlike usual, in this case we know what the risk factor is. It is completely preventable, we could prevent such consequences.” According to the doctor, it is imperative to ban headers from football. “If we make a change now, it will be 30 to 40 years before we see the effects,” he said.
Defender with five times the risk of dementia
The study was based on 8,000 former Scottish footballers. While goalkeepers were affected by dementia and other neurodegenerative diseases as often as the average population, such diseases were four times more common among field players. Defenders even showed a five times higher risk.
It is already known from studies by American football professionals that contact sports that involve knocks and blows to the head involve the risk of long-term effects. The main focus here is CTE, the chronic-traumatic encephalopathy, a neurological disease which, however, has so far only been diagnosed without any doubt after death.
In England, the health effects of repeated headers have been studied for a long time. In children’s and youth football, headers should not take place as far as possible. The English Association (FA) only suggested adjustments to the header training last week. Even professional clubs were asked to limit the number of headers per player to ten per training week. At the end of last year, public interest in the topic had drawn news that Bobby Charlton was already at fifth footballer from the 1966 world championship team Dementia had been diagnosed.
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