This week the Association of Ringside Physicians published a position statement on young fighters. Titled Physiological and Medical Considerations for the Younger Combat Athlete, the authors reviewed hundreds of peer reviewed sources and made several recommendations.
Among the most notable recommendations were the banning of weight cutting for athletes under 19, banning head contact in training and in competition for athletes under 12 and call for combat sports gyms to provide educational information about the reality of head injuries and CTE to their students to ensure there is informed consent to participate.
The article concludes with the following recommendations.
Based on the available body of scientific evidence and with the goal of promoting safe sport, the
Association of Ringside Physicians recommends the following regarding the young combat sport
athlete:
● Clinicians should maintain a high index of suspicion for growth plate injuries and physeal
stress overuse injuries among this population. Complaints of persistent bone or joint pain
should be evaluated by an experienced clinician.
● Any child or adolescent with stage 2 hypertension, as determined according to age, height
and gender specific parameters, should be restricted from combat sports until blood
pressure is under control. Substances that could elevate blood pressure, such as energy
drinks, should be discouraged in this age group. All athletes with persistently elevated
blood pressure should be evaluated by an experienced clinician before participation
clearance is given.
● Weight cutting should be discouraged and even banned in children and adolescents, due
to increased risk of injury to the heart, kidneys, muscle, and fluid/electrolyte balance.
● Training should only occur under the supervision of qualified instructors skilled in
teaching defensive and offensive techniques and tactics. Instructors should be educated
on concussion signs and symptoms.
● Training time should be limited to the amount needed for learning a skill set. Sparring in
training should be avoided in those 12 years old and younger due to critical brain
development occurring during these early years.
● In competition, head strikes should be discouraged or even banned for athletes under 13
years of age in order to reduce the high risk of developing Chronic Traumatic
Encephalopathy associated with head trauma in the young athlete.
● Post-bout exams should be thoroughly conducted and longer medical suspensions for
concussions should be considered as children and adolescents take longer to recover and
are at risk academically while recovering.
These guidelines are recommendations to assist ringside physicians, combat sports athletes,
trainers, promoters, sanctioning bodies, governmental bodies and others in making decisions and
setting policy. These recommendations may be adopted, modified or rejected according to
clinical needs and constraints and are not intended to replace local commission laws, regulations
or policies already in place. In addition, the guidelines developed by the ARP are not intended as
standards or absolute requirements, and their use cannot guarantee any specific outcome.
Guidelines are subject to revision as warranted by the evolution of medical knowledge,
technology and practice. They provide the basic recommendations that are supported by
synthesis and analysis of the current literature, expert and practitioner opinion, commentary and
clinical feasibility.
Combat Sports Law 