HEAD TALK with Professor Dr Willie Stewart
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AT THE COUNTY DURHAM SUITE, SPENNYMOOR TOWN FOOTBALL CLUB
Professor Willie Stewart is a consultant neuropathologist at the University of Glasgow and a leading expert in brain injury in sport.
He published the famous FIELD study in 2019, which demonstrated that professional footballers are 5 times more likely to suffer from dementia than the normal population. His influential work has
triggered football authorities across the world to listen to these serious health risks and his ongoing work has ignited change.
He is currently running the BrainHOPE study, jointly funded by the FA and FIFA, to gather more information on players and their risks, and, importantly, to identify possible ways to reduce the risk of
developing dementia in former professional footballers who have already been exposed to significant numbers of head impacts.
Head for Change is a start up charitable foundation, pioneering positive change for brain health in sport and supporting ex-players who are affected by neurodegenerative disease as a result of
their professional sporting career in football or rugby. Head for change is dedicated to being part of the solution to the dangers of repetitive head impacts.
We are currently working alongside Professor Stewart as part of his global research network CONNECT-TBI, to help promote research that is player focussed.
Our education session will run from 12-1 and forms a part of a full day of awareness-raising in dementia in football, which includes recognising the significant number of past players who are victims of sports related neurodegenerative disease, demonstrations of head-safe training with teams under the age of 12, and culminates in an experimental football match, in which we experiment with safer heading rules, with some very special guests.
