Must Read: Football Players Are More Likely To Experience Dementia
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Football players will be more likely to develop long-term brain damage later in life, research suggests. As this one goes, Football Association tells that they will look more closely into this issue.
UK scientists regard this repeated blows to the head from headers may result in a player in developing dementia. However, some experts said that it is rare for a recreational player to develop such problems.
On the research made, six players renowned for headers undergone an examination and showed that these players developed dementia in later life. Ian St John, a player from Liverpool admitted that six out of his 16 colleagues now have Alzheimer's.
Another case presented, Dawn Astle, daughter of former England and West Brom striker Jeff Astle said that it is obvious that death of Jeff Astle was linked to his footballing career. The investigation of his death in 2002 revealed that the repeatedly heading heavy leather footballs contributed to having an early onset of dementia. She [Dawn Astle] even mentioned, "Everything football ever gave him, football had taken away."
University College London and Cardiff University spearheaded brain examination of five people who had been professional football headers. These players played for an average of 26 years and all of them developed dementia in their 60s.
Scientists found that in the post-mortem examination an injury called chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is present in four cases. This CTE was linked to depression, memory loss and dementia that do exists in other contact sports such as boxing or American football.
On the other hand, Dr. David Reynolds from the charity Alzheimer's Research UK said: "The causes of dementia are complex and it is likely that the condition is caused by a combination of age, lifestyle and genetic factors." He even added that further research is needed to see how the lifestyle of being a football player may develop dementia risk, BBC reported.