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Headshots from amateur boxing seem to damage brains, according to a study to be presented April 28-May 5, 2007, at the 59th annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology, Boston. Now, research that is being presented at this week's 59th annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology shows that even amateur boxing increases your risk for brain damage. Boxing causes brain damage. Boxers hit in the head suffer blunt trauma that can permanently harm the brain's functioning. This occurs most visibly in the form of concussions, but it also includes subconcussive blows. It is for this reason that boxing has fallen out of popular interest over the past several decades. Recent studies show most professional boxers (even those who do not have symptoms) suffer from some level of brain injury. In multiple studies, it has been found that 15-20% of former boxers had symptoms of chronic brain damage. Why Boxing Causes Head Damage Boxers are hit on their heads often and may have suffered from numerous concussions, a risk factor for CTE. If this is not alarming enough, it is possible to get CTE from repeated hits to the head, even if these hits did not produce symptoms. Another possibility is that repeated hits to the head result in several small bleeding holes deep within the brain, eventually replaced with lesions or scarring. A Cleveland Clinic study suggests that even sub-concussive hits -- shots to the head that do not result in a concussion -- may result in substantial long-term brain damage to the athlete. Concussions happen when your brain is bouncing around inside your skull with enough force to trigger abnormal electrical circuits. In boxing, a knockout, or brain injury due to a concussion, occurs when your brain is knocked back and forth inside the skull. When you suffer a concussion, the brain is forced to push up on the sides of the skull from the blow, bruising it. A concussion may occur due to percussion to the brain inside your skull and can result in tearing injuries to your nerve fibers and neurons if it is severe. The brain has a limited ability to self-heal, and as a fighter, precautions must be taken when you are in the fight ring to protect the head from blows. As a boxer, you should get regular checkups on the brain, as it is possible to get a bloody brain, even if you do not get injured or unconscious. Remember, once you suffer from brain damage, you might not be able to return to your job, and it can affect how you perform basic tasks like cooking, walking, etc. So, keep an eye out for measures taught about preventing brain damage from boxing. Boxing Will Always Contain Danger You cannot completely avoid these injuries, but you can adopt different measures which help you to prevent brain damage in boxing. Here are a few facts about boxing injuries that you need to know about, as well as ways to avoid potentially fatal complications. In light of all of the statistics about head injuries that we have discussed in boxing, it is not surprising that preventing boxing injuries is the topic of a lot of debate. It is probably not surprising, then, that the statistics on boxing injuries reveal one obvious trend: Boxing brain injuries are surprisingly common. How to prevent fatal injuries and devastating brain injury-related illnesses like CTE from occurring in boxing is a popular subject. The quest for boxing stardom comes with lasting consequences, like chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), which one new study suggests may be reducing the fighter's brain. Beyond physical head trauma, boxings and CTE's psychological effects are staggering. Research has long shown that brain injuries - which no boxer is immune from for years -- place an individual at risk of permanent brain damage. Such studies have suggested some people might be genetically predisposed to suffer neurological damage as a result of boxing, said Barry Jordan, MD, a neurologist who directs the Brain Injury Program at Burke Rehabilitation Hospital in White Plains, N.Y. There are very few prospective studies on CTBI, which would allow for epidemiological estimates on the prevalence of long-term neurological injuries associated with boxing, in both amateur and professional sports. The development of chronic neurological symptoms in professional boxing was initially called a punch-drunk syndrome.1 This terminology has evolved over time, and the entity is now called chronic traumatic brain injury (CTBI).2 Although about a third of cases of CTBI are progressive,3 clinical evidence does not support the notion that the condition progresses through a predictable, serial set of stages. Notes on the Punch-Drunk Syndrome How the punch-drunk syndrome presents itself to any given boxer depends on what areas of their brain are affected by the damage. That Ali progressed this far, despite not being in the boxing game anymore, indicates that the damage done to the brain from repeated blows might not cease as soon as punches stopped. Increased brain inhibition is also seen after concussions, and is thought in this instance to be a protective mechanism, slowing the process of the brain in order to ward off further damage and aid in recovery. Rarely, but a life-threatening brain swelling may occur if a second concussion occurs before your first one has healed. According to the Society of Neurological Surgeons, 90% of boxers suffer from concussions at some time during their careers. Suggested is that researchers found evidence of traumatic brain injuries among a group of amateur boxers in the Netherlands, even though they were wearing headgear that protected them. The researchers concluded that, as such, amateur boxing is a potentially dangerous sport due to its acute traumatic brain injury (ATBI) risk. Just one week after Anthony Joshua revealed that he had suffered a concussion during a loss to Andy Ruiz Jr, new research has suggested it is not only fighting nights when fighters are at risk of damaging their brains. Even Light Sparring Can Cause Damage Routine sparring in boxing may result in a short-term disruption in brain-muscle communication, according to a new study, as well as reduced performance on tests of memory. Sports-related concussion is a historic term representing lower-velocity injuries causing brain shake leading to clinical symptoms, not necessarily related to pathological trauma. Yes, hitting the head can result in bleeding into the brain, a condition called an intracranial hemorrhage. The main risk factors mentioned for developing a CTBI are prolonged exposure to repeated concussive and subconcussive blows to the head.1,3,11,12 Thus, it is said that fighters who have a long career in professional sport, or fighters who have limited defensive skills, and repeatedly suffer severe blows are the most at risk for developing CTBI.

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