Boxing - Health Risks
Taken from http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/physical_health/conditions/boxing.shtml
BBC - Health:Boxing
Cuts and bruises are the most common boxing injuries, and many boxers leave the ring needing stitches to the face and dental work. Body blows can lead to broken ribs and internal bleeding. Potentially blinding eye injuries can occur but may be difficult to detect except by specialist examination.
Although many injuries occur, boxing accounts for fewer deaths than many other sports, but the British Medical Association (BMA) says this is insignificant compared to the effects of brain damage that may go unrecorded in many boxers.
As boxing involves powerful people hitting each other repeatedly, often around the head, there are significant risks of head injury. Most serious of all is a risk of permanent severe brain damage. According to brain surgeons, over 80 per cent of professional boxers have serious brain scarring on MRI scans. The evidence for harm or cumulative brain damage to amateur boxers is less clear.
Other research has shown that a chemical called neurofilament light or NFL, which is released when nerve cells are damaged, is four times higher than normal in boxers after a fight and up to eight times higher when there have been more than 15 high-impact hits to the head. It takes about three months for levels to return to normal after a fight.
While other injuries repair relatively easily, brain tissue, once damaged, remains damaged. The symptoms of such brain damage - commonly known as being 'punch drunk' - include slurred speech, slow reactions and even occasional blackouts (‘chronic traumatic encephalopathy’). These symptoms may take years to appear – on average about 16 years after taking up boxing, but sometimes as later as 40 years, long after the boxer has retired from the sport.
The BMA, which represents 84 per cent of the UK's doctors, opposes boxing primarily because of the threat to the brain and eyes.
BBC - Health:Boxing
Cuts and bruises are the most common boxing injuries, and many boxers leave the ring needing stitches to the face and dental work. Body blows can lead to broken ribs and internal bleeding. Potentially blinding eye injuries can occur but may be difficult to detect except by specialist examination.
Although many injuries occur, boxing accounts for fewer deaths than many other sports, but the British Medical Association (BMA) says this is insignificant compared to the effects of brain damage that may go unrecorded in many boxers.
As boxing involves powerful people hitting each other repeatedly, often around the head, there are significant risks of head injury. Most serious of all is a risk of permanent severe brain damage. According to brain surgeons, over 80 per cent of professional boxers have serious brain scarring on MRI scans. The evidence for harm or cumulative brain damage to amateur boxers is less clear.
Other research has shown that a chemical called neurofilament light or NFL, which is released when nerve cells are damaged, is four times higher than normal in boxers after a fight and up to eight times higher when there have been more than 15 high-impact hits to the head. It takes about three months for levels to return to normal after a fight.
While other injuries repair relatively easily, brain tissue, once damaged, remains damaged. The symptoms of such brain damage - commonly known as being 'punch drunk' - include slurred speech, slow reactions and even occasional blackouts (‘chronic traumatic encephalopathy’). These symptoms may take years to appear – on average about 16 years after taking up boxing, but sometimes as later as 40 years, long after the boxer has retired from the sport.
The BMA, which represents 84 per cent of the UK's doctors, opposes boxing primarily because of the threat to the brain and eyes.
