Professional football and MND – looking at the evidence

Folllowing the announcement last year that professional football players, Len Johnrose and Stephen Darby, had been diagnosed with MND and previous announcements from other prominent footballers in England and across the world in recent years, the MND Research Blog featured Professional football and MND - looking at the evidence in March 2019. In the article some of the studies that investigate the incidence (rate of newly diagnosed cases) of MND in professional football players are reviewed and potential related causes, including head injuries, physical activity, substance abuse and pesticides, are discussed. The authors find that the headlines surrounding MND and football should be approached with some clear thinking and that it is vital that the causes of MND and any possible underlying factors are uncovered and understood. More studies are needed that use matched groups of professional sports people from different countries, together with control groups, to draw a definitive conclusion.