An interesting article was published this week in the British Journal of Sports Medicine calling on researchers to collaborate in making full contact combat sports with intentional head strikes ground zero for research involving head trauma in sport. Contrasting these sports with other contact sports where head trauma is incidental instead of a key goal … More Researchers Call for Combat Sports to Serve as “Ground Zero” In Concussion Data

Last year data was presented at the Association of Ringside Physicians Annual Conference giving the first glimpse of the safety track record of bare knuckle boxing compared to traditional boxing. The data revealed that bare knuckle boxers were suffeirng fewer concussions and fewer broken hands but also more cuts and abraasioins. Now, (and adding to … More Study – Updated Bare Knuckle Boxing Injury Data

Adding to this site’s database of combat sports safety studies, a recent study was published in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports addressing whether BJJ athletes, who are subjected to repeated strangulation, sustain impaired cognitive function or reduced arterial blood flow from the practice. In the study, titled Elevated cerebral perfusion and preserved … More Study Suggests BJJ Chokes Do Not Impair Cognitive Function And May Improve Arterial Blood Flow

Adding to this site’s database of combat sports safety studies, a recent study was published in the European Journal of Sports Science reviewing past data on injury prevention effectiveness for headgear in boxing. In the study, titled Concussions, cuts and cracked bones: A systematic literature review on protective headgear and head injury prevention in Olympic boxing, the … More Study Calls for Need of More Boxing Headgear Concussion Data

The harms from rapid extreme weight cutting in combat sports (in order to then rapidly gain weight well above the weight class limit during competition) are well documented on this site. How much weight do professional boxers regain following these cuts? A recently published study in The Physician and Sports Medicine journal sheds light on … More Study Documents Pro Boxer Rapid Weight Gain Data in California

Concussions in fights are inevitable. Concussions in training are preventable. That is the sensible premise of a recent article published in the Journal of Combat Sports Medicine calling for reform in the prevalence of head trauma combat sports athletes expose themselves to when training for competition. In the recent article, titled Safe Sparring Protocol: Reducing … More Ringside Doctors Call For Less Brain Injury in Sparring

Finding a quick, efficient and objective way to diagnose traumatic brain injury is one of the advances medical science continues to strive for. A goal that would have particular value in combat sports. A recent study published in the journal Neurology identifies a biomarker which is promising in reaching this goal. In the recent study, … More “Attractive” Biomarker Identified for Diagnosing Brain Injury

Adding to this site’s database of combat sports safety studies, a recent study was published in the Journal of Hypertension finding that rapid extreme weight cutting by a mixed martial artist was likley linked to renal damage. In the study, titled “IN MIXED MARTIAL ARTS (MMA) WEIGHT LOSS BY DEHYDRATION RESULTS IN ACUTE EFFECTS ON KIDNEY FUNCTION“, … More Study – Rapid Weght Cuts By MMA Fighter Linked to Renal Damage