Mild traumatic brain injury is sometimes referred to as an ‘invisible injury’ as there is often no objective evidence to help diagnose the damage done. Instead a diagnosis is made based on a host of subjective complaints.  Repetitive concussive and sub-concussive blows are linked to CTE.  This disease also cannot be diagnosed with certainty in … More Study – Biomarkers Could Help Identify CTE Risk in Athletes With History of Brain Injury

In the last decade there has been great progress in public understanding that concussions are a form of traumatic brain injury, not simply ‘getting your bell rung’. Current studies are showing, however, that sub-concussive blows over a prolonged period are equally troubling and a recent article published in the Journal of Neurosurgery Clinics of North … More CTE Severity Linked to Number of Years in Contact Sports, Not Number of Concussions

One topic I often revisit is the reality that gloves in combative sports such as boxing, kickboxing and MMA do a great job protecting from superficial injury but likely lead to an increase of traumatic brain injury and CTE. This week I had the pleasure of picking up a hard copy of Jason Thalken’s “Fight … More Let’s Talk Physics, Gloves, Combat Sports and Brain Trauma

Adding to this site’s archives of combat sports safety studies, The Journal of Sports Health published a data review concluding that MMA combatants suffer an in competition injury rate between 22.9 and 28.6%. In the recent study the authors reviewed 35 years of publications detailing injury rates in MMA or thier component sports.  The data … More Study Review – MMA Participants Face 22%-28% In-Competition Injury Rate

In my latest review of safety studies in the world of combative sports, a recent article was published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine finding concussion ‘preventing’ sports equipment has ‘no effect’. In the recent study, titled “Current State of Concussion Prevention Strategies: a systemic review and meta-analysis of prospective, controlled studies” the authors evaluated 14 studies … More Study – Concussion “Preventing” Sports Equipment Of “No Effect”

Adding to this site’s archived summaries of studies addressing safety issues in combat sports, a recent study was published in the Journal of Neuroradiology canvassing the extent of objective white matter disturbance in the brains of amateur boxers compared to a control group. The study, titled Reduced White Matter Integrity in Amateur Boxers, posed the … More Study – White Matter Disturbance In Brains of Amateur Boxers

It is becoming ever clearer that mileage matters when it comes to exposure of head trauma and poor long term cognitive outcomes. A recent study, titled  “Cognitive, Psychiatric, And Neuropathological Manifestations Of Repetitive Mild Traumatic Brain Injury” published as a dissertationn paper in Wayne State University’s Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences sought answers to the important question … More Study – Repeated Subconcussive Blows Just As Bad As Concussions For Long Term Brain Impairment

In my ongoing efforts to document scientific studies addressing safety issues in combat sports, a recent article was published examining the facial injury rate among boxing, wrestling and martial arts competitors. The article, titled “Adding Insult to Injury – A National Analysis of Combat Sports-Related Facial Injury” was published this month in the Annals of … More Study – Wrestling Presents Highter Facial Injury Rate Than Boxing and Martial Arts

In my ongoing efforts to document scientific studies addressing safety issues in combat sports, a useful article was published this month in the Korean Journal of Neurotrauma addressing sport related head injuries and return to sport protocols. While the recent article titled A Review of Sport-Related Head Injuries, does not present any new data or … More Return To Combat Sports Following Concussion