Neurologists have discovered brain problems that boxers and mixed martial arts fighters face, Neurology journal reported.

According to EurekAlert!, active fighters experienced a loss in brain volume characteristic of injuries, while former fighters had a characteristic loss of neurodegenerative diseases.

Compared with people who did not have contact martial arts, active boxers had a higher average annual rate of brain volume loss in the areas of the left thalamus, middle and front parts of the corpus callosum, and central part of the corpus callosum. For MMA fighters, a similar pattern was observed, but to a slightly lesser extent, on the left side of the thalamus and the central part of the corpus callosum.

Former boxers did not have changes in these areas of the brain - they showed a loss of brain volume in the left and right tonsils and right side of the hippocampus. These are parts of the brain that are affected by diseases like Alzheimer's.

It is also interesting that the researchers did not find significant differences in the estimates of thinking and memory among groups of current and former fighters and not fighters. However, when scientists divided the active fighters into those who had a loss of brain volume, and those who did not have a loss - it turned out that people with a loss of volume had the results of two tests for information processing speed were worse than those with a brain volume of whom was still normal.