Football is one of the world’s most popular sports and brings many health, fitness, and social benefits.
However, scientists are becoming increasingly concerned about the long-term effects of repeated blows to the head.
A growing number of studies suggest that years of heading the ball, tackling, and collisions may increase the risk of dementia and other brain diseases later in life.
Dementia is not a single disease but a group of conditions that affect memory, thinking, behaviour, and the ability to carry out daily activities. Although ageing is the biggest risk factor, researchers are trying to understand how repeated head injuries may also contribute to brain damage over time.
A new study presented at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference examined 142 former professional footballers aged 30 to 60 and compared them with 56 adults of similar age who had never taken part in contact sports. The research aimed to see whether signs of brain changes could already be detected in middle age.
The participants completed memory, attention, and thinking tests. Overall, the retired footballers performed about as well as the comparison group on these formal tests. However, many former players reported feeling more anxious, having lower mood, and believing their memory and thinking were worse than before.
The researchers also carried out MRI brain scans on many of the volunteers. These scans showed that, on average, the former footballers had less grey matter in several parts of the brain involved in memory, attention, decision-making, and emotional control. Grey matter contains many of the nerve cells that process information.
The scientists stressed that these findings do not prove football caused the brain changes. The research only looked at participants once, making it impossible to know whether the changes will become worse over time. Long-term studies are still needed.
The findings fit with earlier research. Previous studies involving retired footballers found they were more likely to score poorly on some dementia screening tests and were more likely to report being diagnosed with dementia or another neurodegenerative disease than people in the general population.
Researchers have also examined heading the ball. One study found that retired players who remembered heading the ball more than 15 times during a typical match or training session had a much higher chance of cognitive problems than those who headed it less often. However, these estimates relied on memories from many years earlier, so they cannot provide an exact safe limit.
Heading is not the only concern. Players may also suffer concussion after head-to-head collisions, falls, or impacts with goalposts. Studies have shown that concussion involving memory loss may further increase the risk of later cognitive decline.
Similar concerns have also been reported in rugby. Research using special mouthguards that measure head impacts found that players with greater exposure reported more symptoms such as anxiety, fatigue, anger, and low mood. These symptoms alone do not prove brain damage, but they highlight the need for careful monitoring.
Football authorities have already introduced measures to reduce risk. Current Football Association guidance limits high-force headers during training and recommends that any player with suspected concussion should leave the game immediately and only return after proper medical assessment and recovery.
This study adds to growing evidence that repeated head impacts deserve serious attention, but it should not cause unnecessary fear.
The research is preliminary and cannot prove cause and effect. Its strengths include brain imaging and comparison with non-players, while its main weakness is that it only provides a snapshot in time. Future long-term studies will be essential to determine whether these early brain changes lead to dementia and whether better concussion management and reduced heading can lower the risk.
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Source: Alzheimer’s Association International Conference / University of Nottingham commentary.
