Claudia, There is some research on head injuries and their cognitive effects in soccer players. Here is a link to Pubmed abstract to one study of college level players in the UK
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19048428?ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSys tem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DiscoveryPanel.Pubmed_Dis covery_RA&linkpos=1&log$=relatedarticles&logdbfrom=pubmed tiny URL http://tinyurl.com/ycswnfh There does seem to be some risk soccer players. Dennis ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------ Dennis M. Goff Charles A. Dana Professor of Psychology Department of Psychology Randolph College (Founded as Randolph-Macon Woman's College in 1891) Lynchburg VA 24503 [email protected] -----Original Message----- From: Claudia Stanny [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Wednesday, September 30, 2009 10:32 PM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: RE: [tips] Football players, concussions and early onset of Alzheimer's Sorry I don't have cites for this, but patients who have closed head injuries (e.g., in auto accidents) are typically warned by their physicians of an increased risk of Alzheimer's as well as other problems (many develop seizure disorders). Given that a concussion is a mild-to-severe closed head injury, the increased risk might be present in players of sports that have high rates of concussions. Other sports that involve blows to the head have long been are associated with dementias (if not Alzheimer's per se). Boxing is the classic example. I wonder if anyone has looked at soccer players (all those head butts to balls). Soccer players claim they learn a technique that protects them from injury from this move, but I have a nephew who was a highly skilled soccer player before an auto accident that left him with a severe closed head injury. He had to give up soccer after his injury because when he tried to play and bounced a ball off his head, he had immediate problems - severe headaches and set-backs in his progress toward recovering speech and memory skills lost as a result of his brain injury. N of 1, but a pretty striking case. Another population worth following with respect to this pattern is Gulf War veterans who experience closed-head injuries related to the percussive blast created by roadside explosive devices. I wonder what the pattern of dementias will look like in this group compared to non-injured vets and non-vet age-mates. Claudia J. Stanny, Ph.D. Director, Center for University Teaching, Learning, and Assessment Associate Professor, Psychology University of West Florida Pensacola, FL 32514 - 5751 Phone: (850) 857-6355 or (850) 473-7435 e-mail: [email protected] --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([email protected])
