According to a study carried out by Karolinska Institute in Sweden, Footballers are under the risk of getting diagnosed with Dementia and are 50% more likely to catch it than the rest of the population. The report was published by an English outlet and indicated that some of our favorite footballers are under risk of developing Neurodegenerative diseases.
The report since then has amassed traction and the usage of headers are being called to remove from Football. The Institute which made this revelation, differentiated health records of 50,000+ non-footballers and only 5,000+ elite footballers and found some shocking facts.
The data was collected from 1924 to 2019 and revealed that 9% of top-division players of Sweden are under a risk of having neurodegenerative flaw. Whereas the non-footballers had only 6% of people with any such Dementia threat. The study also compared these factors among goalkeepers and outfield players (strikers, defenders, midfielders).
It was reported that the outfield players are more likely to develop Alzheimers and Dementia. The potential rate of this happening has increased by 1.6% according to the study which was released yesterday.
“Importantly, our findings suggest that goalkeepers don’t have the same increased risk of neurodegenerative disease as outfield players. Goalkeepers rarely head the ball, unlike outfield players, but are exposed to similar environments and lifestyles during their football careers and perhaps also after retirement.” – said Peter Ueda (assistant professor at Karolinska Institute.
In some youth leagues and events in England, the Football Association is testing a rule that prohibits players younger than 12 from heading the ball. If successful, it will submit an application to the International Football Association Board for a change in the legislation to completely eliminate the heading for under-12s.
“The fact that the risk to goalkeepers, who rarely head the ball, is not increased, strengthens this hypothesis. If we assume that about one in 10 people would develop dementia anyway, then this means that about one in 20 professional footballers will develop dementia who would not otherwise have done so, as a result of heading the ball.” – said David Curtis.
