Boxing

Table 1: Ancient vs Modern Amateur Boxing⁶

An early catalyst for athlete well-being succession occurred with the development and use of The Marques of Queensbury rules of 1867. These rules improved athlete safety during the predeceasing years of modern amateur and professional boxing.⁷ After this initial contribution for athlete safety, a greater priority was placed on understanding the injury risk factors that have since influenced smaller athlete safety changes since the 1860's. This early investigation into athlete safety and boxing injuries occurred in a time of research uncertainty. In the modern era this certainty has progressed into the academia surrounding boxing. The interest behind this boxing injury risk investigation positively reinforces this historical trend to better athlete wellbeing.  In 2023 the most recent and concerning injury related to boxing are mild-traumatic brain injury or, concussions (see blog).

In a recent paper I published with support from Macquarie University, we investigate the mortality rate in Australian boxing. In short, there were 163 boxing-related fatalities in Australia during 1832 to 2020, including 122 (74.8%) professional and 40 (24.5%) amateur athletes. The most common causes of death were traumatic brain injury (n = 121; 74.2%) and cardiac arrest (n = 11;6.7%). Of note is the 74% brain predilection in mortality suggests that brain health is a key area of interest for future investigation and intervention.⁸

The mortality burden associated with the brain should invoke discussion of brain health practices amongst boxing athletes. Good brain health habits will prolong an athletes competition life and improve out-of-the-ring quality of life. These discussions should include ideas related to frequency and quality of sparring participations in the training and competition setting, and preventative measures. One protective measure exists in the form of neck strengthening and stiffness. A lot of the symptoms associated with early career boxers can occur from neck related issues, i.e., headaches, dizziness, insomnia etc. Adequate neck protocols paired with good sleep hygiene will greatly improve athlete availability. Additionally, the identification of concussions are crucial, with mechanistic research identifying 'second impact syndrome' as a potential cause behind prolonged concussion recovery. That is, not treating the initial concussion correctly and incurring a additional concussion (i.e., two concussions within a 4 week period).

At the CombatSportsChiro, we intend to discuss these topics of discussion in various blog posts and treatment/therapy recommendations to help educate the members of the boxing and greater combat sports communities.