CTE is a disease of mileage and is caused by repeated exposure to sub concussive blows (brain rattling impacts that don't produce symptoms of concussion).
Many fighters take the vast majority of their sub concussive impacts in training as opposed to actual competition. This week a study was published showing that MMA fighters show evidence of sub concussive harm even after a single sparring session.
In the study, titled Levels of biomarkers associated with subconcussive head hits in mixed martial arts fighters, the authors took a group of MMA fighters and compared them to control groups. They took baseline cognitive measures of the group and also took blood samples to study biomarkers linked with subconcussive injury. The MMA fighters then sparred and these measures were taken immediately after and then again 72 hours later.
The authors found that the MMA fighters showed evidence of subconcussive harm after sparring (and even before sparring compared to the control group) noting as follows:
We found differences between the number of symptoms and the severity of symptoms in the SCAT5 before sparring, immediately after the fight and 72 h after the sparring in the group of fighters. Our findings corroborate the results of Meier et al., who observed significant differences in the SCAT5 in American football players, between the pre-training, six and 24-48 h after the trauma, since during the championship
The authors emphasized that MMA fighters should be aware of the dangers of serial subconcussive blows in the following conclusion:
This was a pioneering study which demonstrated that repeated subconcussive strikes in MMA fighters are associated with reduced levels of UCH-L1 immediately after the fight, as well as reduced levels of BDNF 72 h after the fight. Furthermore, the traumatic events were not able to change the levels of GFAP. These exploratory findings may help in understanding the influence of repeated subconcussive blows on MMA fighters, a population frequently affected by these events.
The full abstract reads as follows:
Background
Concussion and the damage resulting from this event related to brain function have been widely studied; however, little is known about subconcussive impacts, especially in Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighters, which is a combat and full contact sport in which most blows are aimed at the head.
Objective
This study aims to evaluate the biomarker levels associated with subconcussive hits to the head in MMA fighters.
Methods
This is an exploratory study in which 30 male subjects (10 MMA fighters, 10 healthy individuals who practice muscle training, and 10 healthy sedentary individuals) aged between 18 and 32 years (25.4 ± 3.8) were evaluated. These individuals underwent blood collection to assess their Ubiquitin C-terminal hydrolase (UCH-L1), Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein (GFAP) and Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) levels before, immediately after and 72 hours after the sparring session (for the fighters) and were compared between groups.
Results
Significant differences were found at baseline between active and healthy fighters in BDNF levels (p = 0.03). A significant reduction of BDNF levels were also observed between the post-immediate and 72h after the sparring session (p = 0.03). No differences were observed in the number or severity of symptoms reported by the fighters.
Conclusion
Despite the exploratory approach, the findings of this study may help to understand the influence of repeated subconcussive hits to the head in MMA fighters, as well as to propose preventive interventions which can minimize the effects of the impact of hits, preserving fighters' neuronal integrity and function.
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