Medical Mens Views Of Dangers In Boxing

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28260, 24 April 1957, Page 15

Medical Mens Views Of Dangers In Boxing

'J’HE alleged harmful . effects suffered by participants in boxing has recently received much publicity overseas, and especially in Britain. In a recent issue of the British Medical Journal, four articles are contributed by experts which discuss various aspects of the problem.

“That boxing is by no means the innocuous sport that some suppose it to be is apparent from the attention paid in recent years to the injuries sustained in the ring by both amateurs and professionals,” says a leading article in the journal. “Boxing enthusiasts have made much of statistics which suggest that the incidence of serious injury is less than in many other sports such as football and ski-ing; on the other hand, boxing is unique in that the intention of the boxer is to damage his opponent and, if possible, to render him unconscious.’’ Insignia of Trade “Such superficial signs of injury,” says the article, “as the flattened nose,, the cauliflower ear, and the scarred hypertrophied eyebrows are insignia of the

boxer’s trade. Death resulting from injuries in the rftg, though uncommon, are being reported more frequently, and in his report, Dr. Macdonald Critchley says , that more than 200 had been described up to Most of these have been attributed to intracranial haemorrhage, usually in the subdural space, but it is remarkable how often surgical evacuation of a subdural haematoma has failed to save a patient’s life. Transient Effect “As E. Jokl has said, the ordinary knock-out may be caused by a transient effect of the blow upon the brain stem, and irreversible damage to this area, without striking histological change, is possibly responsible for some deaths. It should also be remembered that death may result from the secondary head injury which results when the boxer’s head strikes the floor,” says the article. “The punch-drunk state has long been recognised as a serious cause of progressive physical and mental deterioration in professional boxers whose standard of performance has fallen off, resulting in increasingly frequent knock-outs. “Although it is clearly true that the risks of amateur boxing are slight compared with those of the professional sport, the prolonged amnesia which Dr. J. L. Blonstein and Dr. E. Clark describe in some of their cases clearly differs only in degree from the ‘groggy state.’ Threat To Vision “Among the most important eye injuries are corneal trauma, scleral rupture, tears of the iris, iridocyclitis, cataract, subluxation of the lens, vitreous haemorrhage leading to retinitis proliferans, and retinal detachment, which is rarely amenable to surgery. Many of these lesions represent a serious threat to vision. “The list of possible injuries in boxing is a formidable one, but the medical authorities supervising both professional and amateur boxing are advising many sensible precautions in an attempt to limit their occurrence. Many will feel that the benefits derived from boxing Outweigh its dangers,” says the article, “but this opinion will be hard to sustain unless every reasonable step is taken to minimise the risks of permanent disability, particularly that resulting from injury to the brain or eye.”