The English Professional Footballers' Association has announced the launch of the world's first comprehensive protocol for the prevention of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), a brain disease resulting from repeated head impacts. The Association has broadened its scope to include the effects of 'heading the ball' and not just cases of violent concussions. The new guidelines recommend that professional players do not head the ball more than 10 times a week, including in training, and completely prohibit children under 12 from heading the ball to reduce the cumulative effect of impacts over a player's lifetime. At the first-ever World Summit on Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, recently held, Dr. Adam White, Head of Brain Health at the English Professional Footballers' Association, confirmed that this disease 'is preventable' by applying the principles of 'fewer headers, with less force, less frequently, and at an older age,' noting that these rules are the best hope for protecting current and future generations from the fate of previous ones. This move is based on research that revealed former professional footballers in Scotland are three and a half times more likely to develop dementia than the general population. It was also revealed that the majority of brains of British footballers examined after death were affected by this disease, including prominent names such as Jeff Astle, Gordon McQueen, and Chris Nichol.
