The Concussion Foundation shared that the PFA (Professional Footballers Association) has donated funds to support the Concussion in Sport study set up by ICHIRF (International Concussion & Head Injury Research Foundation).
The project is looking at the long-term effects of concussion in men and women who have competed in impact sports and the support of the PFA will ensure that retired footballers are now included in this study.
Dr Michael Turner, Director of Concussion in Sport, says: “The support of the PFA is a major step forward and will ensure that our research now includes retired footballers. This will broaden the scope of the ICHIRF project and we are extremely grateful to Gordon Taylor and John Bramhall for their confidence in our ground-breaking study.”
The ICHIRF project is part of a multi-national collaboration between concussion research centers in Australia, Switzerland and the USA. This independent research seeks to establish whether retired sportsmen and sportswomen have an increased incidence of, or suffer an earlier onset of neuro-degenerative disorders such as Parkinson’s Disease, Alzheimer’s Disease and the condition currently described as chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).
ICHIRF is also looking for control subjects who have never suffered a concussion and further information can be found at ichirf.org.
