Event:

https://tum-conf.zoom.us/j/94253017197
Meeting-ID: 942 5301 7197
Kenncode: 033542

Football is an unusual sport in that players move the ball with their head, routinely absorbing high levels of impact to the head and from a young age. We know that repeated concussion increases the risk of neurodegenerative disease, such as dementia, later in live. Although heading the football involves impacts below the level causing actual concussion, plausibly routine sub-concussive impacts in sport similarly affects brain health. However, considering that actual concussion is already notoriously difficult to detect at a brain level, research into the direct effects of the repeated sub-concussive impacts is a major challenge. Lack of research allowed the football authorities to maintain the position that heading poses no risk. That changed when we published direct evidence that football heading disrupts the brain. In this talk I will give an account of this journey. I also hope to explore with you the different challenges in taking this research forward, towards protecting future brain health in sport.