Brain Injuries among Boxers
Posted on 27. Feb, 2010 by Admin in Truck Accident
Athletes are prime candidates for developing brain injuries. Sports involving constant head bumping have greater risk. The most common one is boxing. Boxers experience repetitive high energy blows. This causes a slow development of structural changes within the brain stem. The longer the duration of such experience increases the risk of brain injuries. This is why boxers, who have started the sport at a very early age and have fought significantly numerable number of fights, have great chances of developing such injury.
In diagnostic findings of randomly selected boxers, MRI revealed changes in periventricular white matter, undersized cysts in brainstem and cerebrum, subdural hematoma, and atrophy or degeneration of the frontal lobe. Moreover, several contusion and hemorrhage have been found in the MRI of 66 years old retired boxer.
There have been a lot of known boxers who have been victimized by the lethal consequence of the sport itself. Leavander Johnson suffered a traumatic brain injury after defending his lightweight title. He collapsed in the 11th round after receiving heavy beating from Jesus Chavez. He was rushed in the hospital and was operated to relieve the subdural hematoma in his brain. He was induced into a coma, but never woke up. After 16 years in professional boxing. Benjamin Flores died in May of 2009 when he fought for the super bantamweight division against boxer named Seeger. Seeger won the fight in the 8th round while Flores was hospitalized and died five days after the fight. In the same month, a Hungarian boxer named Nagy experienced a brain injury during his training. He was hospitalized with a diagnosis of a swollen brain. He had undergone 2 operations, but eventually succumbed to injuries and died. Probably the most well known death in the world of boxing was the fight of Duk Koo Kim and Ray Mancini in 1982. Mancini knocked Kim out in the 14th round and Kim never regained consciousness.
There are others, lucky enough to retire the sport without overtly seeing untoward manifestations of brain injury. However, there is a great chance that manifestations will begin to be manifest later in life.
For those thinking to enter the sport of boxing, we advise to think twice. You may earn a lot of money, but you may also loose your most important wealth – your health.
If you or a loved one has suffered from an accident resulting in TBI, find out more from Attorney Elan Wurtzel of Personal Injury Law Firm Wurtzel Law here.
This article is not intended as legal advice.
