SPORTS BRAIN DISEASE FEARS

Elite stars worryingly linked to MND... but experts now call for further investigation

AN EXHAUSTIVE new study has concluded that the risks of developing Motor Neurone Disease are more than EIGHT times higher among those who sustain repeated blows to the head and spine in top level sport, Sportsmail can reveal.

The most definitive investigation of its kind ever undertaken into cases of the fatal neurodegenerative disease, which has afflicted rugby union’s Doddie Weir and Joost van der Westhuizen and football’s Fernando Ricksen, Stephen Darby and Lenny Johnrose, has discounted the idea that blows to the head sustained in amateur or park sport can be a cause.

But repeated blows sustained at a high technical level, where competitors are faster and stronger, creates a much greater risk, according to the new study — which identifies football, rugby, American football, hockey and motor racing as sports which which might undertake further investigation into possible links. Consultant spine surgeon Mike Hutton, one of the study’s lead researchers, told

Sportsmail last night: ‘As far as we can see, there is a link.

‘We now need more research to further investigate that link and to establish whether we need to adjust our approach to sports, as those who play them at the top level get faster and stronger.’

Ricksen, 42, who spent six years at Rangers, can now only speak with the aid of a machine.

‘I welcome this attempt to understand what causes this illness,’ he said last night. ‘We have to do everything we can to prevent others developing it.’

The study — which adds weight to our long-running campaign for research into the long-term effects of blows to the head in sport — was welcomed last night by football and rugby’s governing bodies, as well the Doddie Weir Foundation, which raises money to fund MND research.

But all parties said that more research is needed into the disease, sometimes known as the ‘Athlete’s curse’ because it affects a disproportionate number of sports people. One or two people in every 100,000 are diagnosed with the disease each year.

The new findings are based on a review of 16 studies of incidence of the disease. The experts were looking for evidence of whether playing organised competitive sport at either professional or amateur level, with or without repeated blows to the head and cervical spine, created a greater risk.

It is the first attempt to pull together multiple previous studies which cover football, American football, basketball, athletics, ice skating and general sport.

But despite a growing awareness of football and rugby players developing the dementia known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy, there have been no long-term studies into MND’s possible links with individual sports.

Mr Hutton said: ‘We think the numbers are significant — 8.5 times higher. But no one has done this kind of investigation and the findings point to a need for a greater understanding.’

Sean McGrath, head of medical strategy at the Doddie Weir Foundation, said: ‘Now we need to find ways of better evaluating what the study points to is the case.’

A spokesman for World Rugby said: ‘While this study is a review of published research over a number of years and therefore not qualitative or rugby specific, we welcome its publication and insights. It does not address the actual risk, only a relative risk, while no rugby studies were included in the study. The key is further research.’