By Kate Kelland, Health and Science Correspondent LONDON (Reuters) - Rugby and soccer players who suffer multiple knocks to the head during their careers are at added risk of brain damage that could lead to dementia and other neurodegenerative diseases, brain scientists are warning. Just as some American football players and boxers have been found to have long-term cognitive deficits after suffering repeated head blows or concussions during play, so soccer and rugby players must be made aware of the same dangers. "What happens is that when you have a big impact, your skull twists one way but your brain stays in the same place," said John Hardy, chair of Molecular Biology of Neurological Disease at University College London's Institute of Neurology. These injuries, he said, common among boxers, American National Football League (NFL) and ice hockey players, as well as soccer and rugby players, can cause damage to the brain similar to abnormalities found in people with Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia.
via Health News Headlines - Yahoo! News http://news.yahoo.com/brain-damage-concussion-fears-seep-rugby-soccer-151218776--nfl.html
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