Parkinson's Awareness Month:30 Days-30 Stories/Day Twenty-One:Brain Trauma and Parkinson's
You hear a lot about football players and how they develop neurological diseases from years of playing. Their chances of developing dementia is well above that of the general population. I was interested in finding out if this was also the case for Parkinson's Disease. I went right to the source.
Howard Moore to National Parkinson Foundation
Has there been any kind of link between sports head injuries and Parkinson's? You see all kinds of stories about Football players and how they later develop Dementia/Alzheimers. I would think there would be the same sort of relationship with Parkinson's?
National Parkinson Foundation Hello Howard! There is not conclusive evidence, but there are a number of epidemiological studies that have linked Parkinson’s disease risk to a history of head trauma. With regard to the research involving football players, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, a division of the United States Centers for Disease Control, published a study in the medical journal, Neurology, in which they surveyed nearly 3,500 retired NFL players who were in the league between 1959 and 1998. They did find that the incidence of dementia in the cohort was greater than in the general population. They did not find an increased incidence of Parkinson’s compared to the general population. This is only one study, though, and more research needs to be done. Link to study:http://www.neurology.org/.../WNL.0b013e31826daf50.abstract
Tomorrow- Former Major League Baseball Player Dave Parker Fights Parkinson's