Farm Accident Digest

March 1st, 2005

Boot To The Head

Maybe it's good I stopped playing after 8th grade.

But a new study has found that Italian professional soccer players get the disease at a rate nearly six times as great as the general population.
[...]
His finding - that Italian players died of A.L.S. at a rate almost 12 times as great as normal - puzzled researchers, who decided to undertake a much more rigorous study.

Which is all very curious, but gets even more so with this fact.

The new study, however, found not only an increased risk among these Italian athletes, but also that the risk was dose-related: the longer an athlete played, the greater his risk of contracting A.L.S.

At the end of the study, they actually know almost as much as when they started; the stats just got tighter.

Perhaps, they say, A.L.S. is related to heavy physical exercise, and therefore not related particularly to soccer.

Or maybe trauma, particularly the head trauma involved in heading the ball or repeated traumas involving the legs, is a factor. Illegal or legal therapeutic drugs may also be involved, and it is possible that environmental toxins like fertilizers or herbicides used on soccer fields play a role.

The authors concede, however, that each of these hypotheses has weaknesses, and the puzzle endures.

So lots of ideas, but still no real clue. Though playing soccer is still safer than being in the visitors' section at any stadium.

'Perhaps, they say, A.L.S. is related to heavy physical exercise, and therefore not related particularly to soccer.'

Don't exercise, and get fat. Exercise, and get A.L.S. I just can't fuckin' win!

Posted By Sara on Mar 1st, 2005 at 9:45am

Spooky.

Posted By Tanya on Mar 1st, 2005 at 10:29am

I don't know if I've heard anything comparative in sports here. Football is different because it's so overall destructive, but other sports could see similar results unless it is actually the drug thing.

Posted By fad on Mar 1st, 2005 at 10:31am

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