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Comment by rory | Hacker News Reader

I played rugby for years and had a constant, mild headache the entire time. Went abroad for five months so I took a break, and I couldn't believe how good I felt. I had forgotten what it felt like for my brain not to hurt.

Needless to say, I never played again.

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I had a similar thing with jiu-jitsu in my 30s. It's fairly low-impact as combat sports go (which is great!), but I had been playing other sports (judo and wrestling) for the majority of my life and those have periodic non-concussive impacts.

After 20 years of practice, I felt just a touch foggy, and I took a few months off to see if anything changed and if my brain cleared up. It definitely did, and I therefore had to quit so I could continue to do programming work at a high level.

Absolute bummer, but that's life, I guess.

Have you considered doing BJJ instead?

That's what I meant, sorry. Japanese Jiu Jitsu isn't really full contact.

You get ancillary knocks and bumps in BJJ (catching a knee in side mount, or screwing up a takedown and bonking yourself), and while they're not that bad, after a lifetime of playing for fun, it was time to stop.

Interesting. BJJ for fun (not competition - so start in position and do less full speed take downs) is probably one of the least impact inducing sports I've ever done. Of course getting bumped in the head can happen, but it's usually with newer people. I mostly stick to higher belts and people I know, and I can't think of the last time I got hit in the head.

Running and basketball I had to quit because of impact on my body overall, though not so much my head. Wakeboarding I quit b/c of a torn ACL and minor concussions in my 20s. Skateboarding is obvious lol. Surfing doesn't have very much impact, but in big waves there is a whole other set of risks.

Anyway, I was just a bit surprised by your comment b/c out of all the sports I've done, BJJ seemed like the one I could do for a very long time just by sticking with people I know and trust.

yeah, I started because my body was getting creaky after years of judo and I wanted something lower impact - it's definitely significantly less stress on your body than either wrestling or judo, but you still get jostled around and in more competitive situations (i.e. in my last tournament I gave myself a concussion and nearly got choked unconscious bc I was out of it) the chance for injury is higher.

It's definitely safe if it's the first thing you've ever done, as the lower levels of bumps are new, but if you've done similar things for a long time, you definitely feel the accumulation in your brain and joints. It's super dumb because it's literally my favorite thing in the world, but I want to be a sharp tack when I'm old and I couldn't sustain it.

Definitely gotta do what works for you. I've taken to it the past few years because my body was getting creaky from years of all the other sports. I'm definitely not doing anymore competitions though. They were fun and submitting someone you don't know is a rush, but I could tell that's where I was likely to get hurt.

At this point in my 40s I've got nothing to prove. If someone comes at me spastic, I tap and move on. The algorithmic/thinking side is really a big draw for me (and it seems others). Over half the people in one of my typical classes are programmers. Time will tell if I can do it in a way that allows for longevity - I certainly hope so. Good luck to you!

I'm currently in my early 30s and sitting here with a mild headache from training the other day. I'm sad to say that I'm probably going to have to quit soon for the same reason.

The study covered one season and did not cover long term impacts. It's entirely possible that, like the parent comment, the whole team finished the season, tested poorly on cognitive performance, took a few months break and were then back close to baseline. The comments about long-term impact are generally not about one season of ordinary contact in any sport.

How many times of being hit in the head is ok? Obviously one wrong hit in the head can lead to death. Is there any acceptable level of being hit in the head?

Why this is even a debate is boggling to me.

I actually don't think it was primarily caused by hits to the head. Every collision (including tackles and scrums) "rattles" the head in a way that causes pain, and presumably damage, over time.

Ok, forgive me for being imprecise in my language :).

Any willful activity that harms the brain should be considered carefully before undertaking. This would include drinking alcohol as well (something which many of us willfully choose).

One wrong step, sneeze, or meal can lead to death. People compete in sport not to get hit in the head, but for other benefits which are legion, just as people become sedentary doing desk jobs not in hopes of suffering ill health from doing no physical activity, but again because their focus is elsewhere.

There are lots of sports that don't involve being hit in the head, people can do those instead.

I would be really curious to see a long term study.

Based on the short term immediate decline they observed, it does seem like there must be some recovery after the season. Just the compounding effects after a handful of seasons seem like they would be very noticeable.

But I’d also be surprised if any recovery were totally complete, either.

I loved playing rugby, and would be sad to see results similar to football, but I’m trying to be open-minded about the long term results.

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