Khaberni - The Professional Footballers' Association in England announced on Tuesday the launch of the first comprehensive protocol in the world for the prevention of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a brain disease resulting from repeated head impacts.
The association has expanded its focus to include effects from "heading the ball" and not just severe concussions.
The new guidelines recommend that professional players should not exceed 10 headers a week, including training sessions, and children under 12 years old should be completely banned from heading the ball to reduce the accumulation of trauma effects over a player's life.
During the world's first summit on chronic traumatic encephalopathy, recently held, Dr. Adam White, head of brain health at the Professional Footballers' Association in England, confirmed that the disease is "preventable" by applying principles of "fewer headers, less forceful, less frequent, and at a later age," noting that these rules are the best hope for protecting current and future generations from the fate of previous generations.
This move is based on research that found that former professional players in Scotland are three and a half times more likely to develop dementia than the general population, and it was also revealed that the majority of British football players' brains examined post-mortem were affected by the disease, including well-known names such as Jeff Astle, Gordon McQueen, and Chris Nicholl.
