Mixed Martial Arts: Testosterone + CTE

Admittedly, I'm not a big mixed martial arts fan, despite living in the hometown of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), but I do recognize the big names, the major athletes in this field.  I mention this because I serendipitously stumbled across the Nevada State Athletic Commission's summary on the use of steroids in combat sports, specifically their adverse effects on health.  While this summary was written 3 years ago in April 2009, the basics have not changed.  And if you've ever listened to me counsel a patient or give a lecture, this is a nice layperson's cribsheet.

On a side note, if you're a boxer or mixed martial artist or anyone else who repeatedly suffers head trauma, a study announced at last month's American Academy of Neurology's annual meeting demonstrated a threshold of 6 years under which long term sequelae was not of concern, but over which there was an increase risk for chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), as reported in the Las Vegas Sun and Las Vegas Review Journal.  

Regardless, the point of today's post is that we must choose carefully when it comes to anabolic steroid use and sustaining repetitive trauma brain injury in our daily activities.

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