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Doctors and boxing
posted at 3/12/2009 5:05 PM GMT
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*Moderator*
Posts: 669
First: 13/3/2009 Last: 14/2/2013 |
An article about boxing in this week's BMJ Careers section has caught my eye. It's by two doctors from the British Board of Boxing Control, looking at what is involved in working as a doctor in the sport. Being a careers article it is a practical look at what's involved, written by enthusiasts for enthusiasts, and doesn't cover a lot of the debate around the research and ethics, which often appear in other sections of the journal. Links to some of them are below. But it did raise questions in my mind as to whether doctors should be involved in this sport. There are groups that are calling for a total ban - would the withdrawal of the profession be more likely to lead to that or would it just leave a legal (and growing) sport without the care it needs? Or indeed are you a doctor that's pro-boxing? See also: Amateur boxing and risk of chronic traumatic brain injury |
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Re: Doctors and boxing
posted at 3/12/2009 11:17 PM GMT
on bmj.com
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Posts: 181
First: 15/11/2009 Last: 6/3/2013 |
I completely understand some doctors' views on boxing (organised fighting). It is violent and barbaric and can cause serious injury and death. But boxing will always be popular despite the justified reasons against it and I, like the two authors of that article, am a boxing fan. On-hand medics are vital to the sport and the medical profession should accept this - doesn't the Hippocratic Oath include something about treating all who seek treatment? If boxing was banned, people would still box, but it would be without the regulation that's currently in place to minimise serious injury. I'm sure many people would argue that Mohammed Ali wouldn't be suffering as much as he is if he hadn't spent the majority of his life boxing. If he hadn't though his strong views that have contributed to changing the world (Vietnam War, Islam, Black movement in America) would have gone unnoticed. It's a human instinct to protect/fight for what you believe. Professional boxers are fighting for the basic view that they are better than their opponent. Boxers are typically consenting adults who have practiced their right to chose to fight. Two trained people without equipment; it's a simple, honest, beautiful sport . What more fair a sport is there? The article implied that boxing is the only sport that can help people break the 'slum cycle', I'm not sure I totally agree with this, however, Bernard Hopkins springs to mind - he invested a lot of his personal wealth/winnings into community regeneration projects (boxing and non-boxing related). Boxing instills rules, discipline and control and increases physical activity, but it is brutal and dangerous. The argument should not be for doctors to try and stop it, but for them to work alongside boxing authorities to make it safer. Looking forward to being challenged. |
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Re: Doctors and boxing
posted at 4/12/2009 9:47 AM GMT
on bmj.com
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Posts: 16
First: 1/10/2009 Last: 1/10/2010 |
Considering much of the medical issues concerning boxing are based on immediate and long term head injuries then perhaps other sports should also be looked at in terms of head injury risks and outcomes. Horseriding springs to mind. With showjumping and normal riding carrying reasonable risk of general injuries from falls as well as head injuries. Of course, as opposed to boxing riders would not try to perform jumps and score points by landing on their heads. You could also point out that they wear protective head gear, however, this is also the case in amateur boxing. Other sports, such as hockey and rugby, also have substantial risk of head injury. These risks may be lower in terms of probability and severity, although given the numbers playing these sports then it could potential pose a much larger health issue than head injuries in boxing. Perhaps there could be an audit done on head injuries (CT head stats?) in A&E departments in terms of various sports. I have a suspicion that it might end up being cycling that comes out the worst! And would boxing even register on most A&E department statistics? null
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Re: Doctors and boxing
posted at 4/12/2009 11:28 AM GMT
on bmj.com
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Posts: 4
First: 23/6/2009 Last: 4/12/2009 |
Maybe Chess Boxing is less harmful (http://wcbo.org)? |
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Re: Doctors and boxing
posted at 9/12/2009 2:26 PM GMT
on bmj.com
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Posts: 141
First: 22/7/2009 Last: 14/2/2012 |
Mikey W, I think the science aside, professional boxing raises some serious ethical questions. If people choose to engage in a sport, aware of the potential accute and chronic health problems, I'm not sure the potential problems are themselves reason to ban it. I myself have suffered acute and chronic problems from playing rugby. But I think professional boxing is unique in the world of sport (although I'm happy to be proven wrong) in that the stated end aim is to brain damage your opponent. The "knockout" is what you box for. While in amateur boxing there is a greater incentive to score points (and more head protection acknowledging the danger of the head blow), professional boxing wants to inflict harm as the barometer of success. There are plenty of other sports where injury is a common by-product, but professional boxing is uniquely questionable by making injury its stated puropse. In a "civilised" society, can we really continue to defend that as sport? |
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Re: Doctors and boxing
posted at 9/12/2009 4:09 PM GMT
on bmj.com
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Posts: 181
First: 15/11/2009 Last: 6/3/2013 |
The main aim of boxing is to win (like any other sport) and winning on points or by knockout are the only ways to succeed. However, like in other sports, different kinds of tactics can be employed to gain a win. It's true to say that the more exciting fights are the fights with the spectacular knockdown, but I've watched very entertaining fights that are won on points after 12 very closely fought rounds. As in rugby, you can have offensive and defensive tactics. In boxing you can wear your opponent out (Ali vs Foreman). In the end it's a choice that the boxer makes. In my opinion, boxing is the purest form of competitive sport out there. Two people using their skill, technique and physical conditioning against one another. No props, protection, teams etc that you can hide behind. I admit it can be classed as dangerous but I'm not ashamed to admit I find it entertaining. You say we live in a civilised society, do we really? |
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Re: Doctors and boxing
posted at 10/12/2009 4:46 PM GMT
on bmj.com
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Posts: 16
First: 1/10/2009 Last: 1/10/2010 |
What I find quite interesting is that on average both professional and sometimes amateur boxing is often thought by many to be made up of angry young people. This may be true in part, although i'm you could say the same for football. However, it's interesting to note the number of boxers achieving great things in areas, supposedly as far from boxing as possible, such as mathematics and politics. On 9 November 2005, when Vitali Klitschko announced his retirement from professional boxing he had a career knockout ratio of 92 percent (34 knockouts in 37 bouts). As i'm guessing you know he came back from Champion Emeritus status to fight Samuel Peter in 2008, and regained his title when Peter retired on his stool in the eighth round. He went on to become one of the few to ever hold versions of world heavyweight championship three times of WBO (1999-2000), WBC (2004-2005) and WBC (2008-Present). He has also extended his career into politics and NGO work for UNESCO. Supposedely he gets regularly beat by former world chess champion Kramnik, at chess of course. Obviously this is just a single example, however, it wouldnt take long on google to find a lengthy list of boxers that achieved much outside of the ring: Nathan Cleverly most recent publicised student of mathematics and a smart boxer, numerous Cambridge scholars/boxers back in the day and finally a string of Russian mathematician/boxers. Considering their achievements it's possible to see why they call it The Sweet Science. null
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Re: Doctors and boxing
posted at 10/12/2009 8:18 PM GMT
on bmj.com
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Posts: 2
First: 10/12/2009 Last: 10/12/2009 |
http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/uae/crime/man-stabbed-by-doctor-loses-eye-1.543720 null
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Re: Doctors and boxing
posted at 11/12/2009 8:22 AM GMT
on bmj.com
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Posts: 603
First: 17/11/2008 Last: 6/10/2010 |
Hello Placebo, Welcome to doc2doc I hope you are settling in OK. I am at a loss as to how the link you posted relates at all to doctors and boxing? Could you please add some further content to the link to perhaps explain to the doc2doc community why it is relevant to the discussion. Thanks, David. |
