In the latest data to come from the Professional Fighters Brain Health Study (PFBHS) findings were recently published in the Journal Neurology noting that there were “significant correlations” between adverse brain health based on how young fighters were when they began competing. In the recent study titled Earlier Age of First Exposure to Competitive Fighting … More Study Finds Earlier Exposure To Fighting Linked To Worse Long Term Brain Health

Fighting is objectively violent. In many ways athletes participating in full contact sports know what they are getting into. But in many other ways they do not as research has recently demonstrated. Some injuries, like concussions and the neurodegenerative disease CTE which is linked to repeated concussive and subconcussive blows, are subtle but could have … More Study – Less Than 6% of Combat Sports Coaches Showed Adequate Concussion Knowledge

CTE is linked to repetitive head hits. Not just concussive hits but routine subconcussive impacts. The brain simply is not designed to be rattled on a repeated basis. If you are a competitive full contact fighter getting hit in the head during a bout is inevitable. Its part of the trade. Sparring is an important … More Study Shows Fighters Taking 10x More Head Impacts in Training vs Competition

Little argument can be had that combat sports and collision sports bring risk to participants. Leaving aside short term acute injury the most sinister of which is long term brain health harm from concussions, post concussive symptoms and CTE. One theme readers of this site will be familiar with is informed consent. I routinely discuss … More Paper Calls Out “Consensus” Statements on Concussion in Sport as Being Biased and Lacking Candour

Olympic athletes typically live 5 years longer than the general population. However, Olympians involved in combat sports do not enjoy this advantage and have increased risk of neurodegenerative death when contrasted with other olympic athletes and the general population according to a recent study. In the study, titled Heads-Up: Risk-Specific Neurodegenerative Mortality and Years-Saved Analysis … More Study – Olympic Combat Sports Athletes Have Increased Risk of Neurodegenerative Death

Adding to this site’s archives of combat sports safety studies, a study was recently published in the Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine finding that “amateur boxing when younger was associated with a 2-fold increase in cognitive impairment“. In the study, titled Amateur Boxing and Dementia, the authors followed a group of 1,123 adult men whose health … More Study – Amateur Boxers Twice As Likely To Have Cognitive Impairment

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