BarcelonaFew televised images are more distressing than that of a football player lying on the turf after being hit in the head on a defensive tackle. And there is none more euphoric than a header that goes on the scoreboard in the last minutes of the match. Although football is played predominantly with the feet, the head plays a very important role. Now, a retrospective study by the Hospital Clínic de Barcelona warns of the serious consequences that repeated blows can cause in professional footballers decades after retiring, which can start with a sleep disorder and, in some cases, lead to in a neurodegenerative disease such as dementia. According to the authors, having played football cannot be considered a risk factor as such, at least for the time being, for these pathologies based only on the results of their study, but they do warn that the proportion of ex-football players affected by any of both diseases is significant with respect to the general population and this line of research requires deeper analyses.
Why footballers are more at risk of Parkinson’s and dementia
42