Is getting hit to the head over and over can be dangerous?

[jayoliver00]

Some one was saying getting hit over and over to the head can cause injuries. Saying some fighters getting knocked out can cause brain injuries.

If so how safe is MMA, boxing, Muay Thai and kickboxing so on and other martial arts getting hit to the head over and over?

I know there been a number of Muay Thai and boxing fighters that have got a brain concussion. But what do these many brain concussions over and over effect the person in some way?

Does the brain heel over time on its own? Have some boxers have to quite boxing if its gotten really bad? How do you know it is bad?

Why do amateur fighters are more at risk than say professional fighters? Have there been any champions have had any problem and have to quite fighting?

Brain injuries is apart of Combat Sports. The brain doesn't even like to get hit at 20-30% during sparring on a regular basis.

There are levels.

Some people can't handle what it takes to be tested as a fighter, so they just tippy tappy spar, hit pads only and light spar; that's fine. But they're not a proven fighter and are at the lower levels. But they balk when you tell them this, because they have EGO.

I wouldn't let little kids bang hard to the head, as their skulls aren't fully developed yet. Even at 18, it's risky, but I can't stop them if they want it. What next, no full contact football? NFFL, national flag footbal league, only? They hit at full power in middle school football already. Of course there will be brain damage. The brain can recover, but will be weaker & "chinny" sooner or later... More people die in Cheerleading than MMA, I think.

Most people train MA to learn how to fight & feel more manly (they won't admit it though) and not make it a career; so maybe 1-5 Ammy fights, and that's it. Many keep training as a hobby and likes to spar hard for knockouts, once in a while, to stay fresh and it's fun. While many are just scared. If you're scared of brain damage, then that's fear; b/c you're going to die of either cancer, diabetes, alzheimer, etc. And alzheimer is probably the least painful way to die.

Getting punched in the face at full power for sport, exposes a lot of Bullshidoka Masters.

 

[jayoliver00]

I did sports medicine (athletic trainer) at the college level for about 15 years, and at the junior high/high school level for about 3 years. The younger the athlete, the longer it took to recover from a concussion. College juniors and seniors typically wouldn't have symptoms last longer than 3-5 days (5 days was a long time), while high school kids would have symptoms for 2 weeks, and it wasn't uncommon for junior high kids to still have symptoms 3 weeks later. These weren't severe concussions like loss of consciousness nor hospitalized; they were pretty "routine" concussions. More severe concussions took longer across the board.

That's just what I observed. When I started at the high school level, I asked my colleagues why things were taking so long, and if this was normal. It was in line with what they were seeing too. I think it has to do with where they are in the brain development process.

I'm not sure about people older than college age, as I don't have any experience with that population.

I believe that it's partly because their skulls aren't as developed; while 14-16 is when boys hit puberty and continue to significantly develop, until 25 or so?

Also the strength of the neck, the clavicle, etc. are factors that lessens the degree of the concussion; which can be attributed to further development with age. That's why you'd see women's heads get easily snapped back violently from just jabs, b/c these areas are weak; the brain getting racked inside the skull like a pinball.

Once fully developed, I think everyone's head has a certain number of mileage on it for combat sports, and it gives up faster & faster. When you're new & sucky, is when your head is fresh & can take a lot of punishment as it's at its strongest. This is when you shouldn't spar hard for KO's; while learning proper techs, esp. defense + light sparring only. Otherwise, you're wasting your limited mileage.

But if you start at, say 45 or something, then other things have deteriorated which could contribute to less resiliency of the brain taking trauma. B/c this is an unnatural thing to do to your brain for sport.

 

[Xue Sheng]

Also, getting hit in the head can lead to detached retina..... been there done that...twice... don't want to do it again