New Study Highlights Yet Another Health Concern With Football

Talk of concussions in sports is often associated with American football, but new research indicates that the highly physical sport could lead to other neurological conditions as well.

A new study has found that, compared to other athletes, football players had significantly higher risks of developing Parkinson’s disease (PD) or parkinsonism later in life.

The research, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, included 1,875 people who had a history of playing contact sports. In total, of the 729 former football players among the group, nearly 89% reported a diagnosis of PD or parkinsonism. 

While playing football in general increased the odds of receiving a PD diagnosis, people who played at higher levels and for longer durations of time were twice as likely to get Parkinson’s or parkinsonism.

For the study, the researchers surveyed people who had a history of playing contact sports and self-reported their PD diagnoses or parkinsonism symptoms. Respondents were then divided into groups based on whether they played football at any point in their lives.

Parkinson’s disease is a neurological condition that causes uncontrollable movements, tremors, stiffness and rigidity. People who have PD often struggle with balance and coordination, and their symptoms typically progress over time.

Similarly, parkinsonism, also known as atypical Parkinson’s, is a term used to describe symptoms related to motor function. However, parkinsonism tends to progress faster than PD and it can be accompanied by other symptoms, like frequent falls and hallucinations.

The symptoms of PD and parkinsonism can devastate a person’s quality of life over time, so scientists are interested in finding ways to decrease that impact. Part of that research has focused on finding the root of what might cause the disease.

According to the National Institute on Aging, current evidence indicates PD could be a result of both genetic and environmental factors, like exposure to certain chemicals. But this recent study explored how physical trauma and repeated blows to the head might be cause for concern among PD research.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is considered a risk factor for PD. However, research on its role relative to the condition has been limited to nonhuman studies and autopsies, making it difficult to understand how head trauma specific to football players might be linked to pathologies that underlie PD.

Over the last decade, the National Football League has come under fire for not taking the safety of its players seriously enough. While orthopedic injuries, like torn ACLs and fractured ankles, are not without consequences for the players who sustain them, concussions are accompanied by potentially serious ramifications, especially in people who have had multiple head injuries.

In 2022 alone, there were 213 reported concussions in NFL players, some of those infamously occurring in the same quarterback for the Miami Dolphins, Tua Tagovailoa, just weeks apart.

Long-term, people who have sustained repetitive concussions are more likely to develop neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric conditions, according to research. While there are still a lot of unknowns about the specifics of long-term risks associated with head trauma, the authors of this latest study note that their findings “suggest that American football participation might be a risk factor for developing parkinsonism or PD.”