Was high school football a softer gentler game, back in the 1950’s and 60’s? A new Mayo Clinic study finds that football players from 1956 to 1970 were no more likely than athletes in other varsity sports, to develop Parkinson’s disease, dementia or other degenerative brain diseases.
Researchers used medical records to observe varsity football, basketball, wresting, and swimming team members for about 40 years after they played high school sports. They found athletes who played football for more than a season were more likely to suffer head trauma , but they still did not have a higher risk of degenerative brain diseases.
In the future, the researchers plan to replicate the study with football players in the current eras.
