Contact sports may raise risk of Parkinson’s-like movement disorder

• Playing contact sports is linked to the development of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a brain disorder often caused by repeated head injuries.
• A new study found that athletes who developed CTE from playing contact sports have a high risk of Parkinsonism, a movement disorder similar to Parkinson’s disease.
• Some people with Parkinsonism may develop Parkinson’s disease later in life.

There is a strong link between playing contact sports and developing a movement disorder known as Parkinsonism, according to a large new study.

The link is chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, which results from repeated impacts to the head and concussions.

Parkinsonism is a term for a movement disorder similar to Parkinson’s disease. Symptoms include balance issues, stiffness in the arms or legs, and slow movement.

The researchers observed that the brains of people who had Parkinsonism were more likely to contain Lewy bodies in the Substantia nigra — an area of the brain involved in the control of movement — neurofibrillary tangles, a loss of neurons, and an earlier death. These are findings that are also found in Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.

The findings suggest that for every eight years of participating in contact sports, there is a 50% increase in the risk of further damage to the area of the brain controlling movement.

The researchers examined the brains, post-mortem, of 481 donors. Of these, 119 individuals had Parkinsonism. Those with more severe CTE were the most likely to develop Parkinsonism. In the study, 24.7% of people who had CTE also had Parkinsonism.

The study is published in JAMA Neurology.