PUNCH-DRUNKENNESS ON INCREASE AMONG BOXERS IN BRITAIN

Southland Times, Issue 23610, 10 September 1938, Page 15

PUNCH-DRUNKENNESS ON INCREASE AMONG BOXERS IN BRITAIN

What silicosis is to- the miner, lead poisoning to the painter, dermatitis to the engineer, so is punch-drunkenness, now regarded as one of the most serious of occupational maladies, to the boxer. This condition, the dread of all those who earn a living with their fists, and which makes simpletons out of young men, has become so widespread that the problem is to be discussed by the Council of the British Medical Association as a result of representations by the National Boxing Association. In England alone there are more than 1000 sufferers for whom there is no hope of recovery. It is estimated that 50 boxers join the ranks of the mentally deficient every year. The visible symptons of punchdrunkenness are easy to detect. The afflicted boxer talks with a throaty growl, continually wonders from the point, and walks flat-footed, with dragging heels. His attention, is easily distracted. His eyes are glazed, fixed in a vacant stare, and his movements are awkward and fumbling.

In most cases the victims are under 35 years of age, many of them outwardly still splendid specimens of manhood.

Only one out of 100 men examined recently was able to walk steadily along a chalk line traced on the floor,

and nearly half of them were unable to pick up a pin. When asked to recite simple nursery rhymes after the doctor who was examining them, they stumbled over the words, mumbling hopelessly. The actual cause of the condition, is not necessarily the knock-out blow, which, when scientifically delivered, leaves no lasting effect. The trouble comes from a succession of club-like blows on the side of the head and face. The brain is cushioned with a fatty tissue to prevent it jarring against the outer covering of the skull. Under average conditions this protection lasts more than a century.

The boxer most likely to suffer is the one who advances into his opponent all the time, constantly receiving jabbing blows to the face and head. These blows, without sending the man down, land sufficiently hard to wear out the cushioning tissue, so that the brain is continually being thrown against the hard bone of the skull. The delicate membrane, under the circumstances, is easily bruised and wounded.

If the fighter who exhibits all the symptoms of punch-drunkenness continues to box he is in grave 'danger of losing life through sudden haemorrhage of the brain, of becoming totally blind or paralysed, or of completely losing his reason. Boxing can take a terrible toll.