Adding to this site’s data base of combat sports safety studies, a recent study was published in the Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery reviewing facial injury rates from hundreds of regulated bare knuckle boxing bouts. In the study, titled, Maxillofacial Trauma Patterns in Bare-Knuckle Fighting, the authors reviewed the results of professional bare-knuckle matches that occurred … More 9% of Bare Knuckle Boxing Bouts Result in Facial Fractures

This month the Journal of Emergency Medicine published the latest paper addressing health and safety issues relating to strangulations from grappling sports such as Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Judo and other martial arts. The lead author of the paper was Dr. Samuel Stellpflug, an ER Physician and BJJ black belt who is one of the leading … More Strangulation Case Study Highlights Verified Injuries from Sportive “Chokes”

Correlation Does Not Equal Causation. Sometimes things are related. But it does not mean one is caused by the other. Science moves slowly and cautiously and now a study has been published taking the important step saying repetitive head impacts in fact “cause” CTE. A research paper, published in Frontiers of Neurology titled Applying the … More Study Finds “Conclusive Evidence” Repetitive Head Impacts Cause CTE

Adding to this site’s data base of combat sports safety studies, a recent study was published in the Journal of Physical Fitness and Sports Medicine in Japan reviewing concussions in MMA fighters and their connection to past knockouts. In the study, titled Incidence of concussions in male mixed martial arts competition in relation to number of … More Study – Concussed MMA Fighters Significantly More Likely To Be Subsequently Concussed

Informed consent. Few can argue against its value. People can choose to do dangerous things. But they should know about the known risks of their choices. People profiting from those choices should not hide or obfuscate these risks. In the world of combat sports CTE is a real risk of participation. Many athletes are not … More Athletes Deserve “The Most Complete Available Information” About CTE

The sports world is filled with a lot of science but also a lot of ‘bro-science’. The former being data driven analysis with conclusions shifting based on where the data points. The latter being conventional wisdom which is sometimes right and sometimes wrong. One ‘bro-science’ belief held by many in the world of both collision … More Study – Early Hard Hits Don’t Toughen Athletes Up. They Weaken Them.

A recent study was published looking into whether brain changes were evident after only a handful of repeated subconcussive impacts finding the answer is yes. In the recent study, titled Repetitive sub-concussive impacts induce inflammation implications for innocuous head impacts in sports, the authors conducted a series of experiments on rats. They designed a device … More Animal Study Finds Microscopic Brain Changes After Only 10 Repeated Subconcussive Impacts