Doctors are worried a combat sport called slap fighting, watched by millions online and gaining in popularity, is causing serious brain damage.
Competitors face off and take turns to deliver bare, full-force, open-handed strikes to the cheek.
To assess the possible harm, medics screened videos of tournaments and have now written a warning letter in a leading journal, JAMA Surgery, external, about their findings.
Unlike boxing, no head gear is allowed and defenders cannot duck to avoid blows. Even flinching is banned.
Opponents are scored based on the amount of damage they inflict and how well they cope with getting slapped themselves.
The sport is popular in the US, but other countries, including the UK, are in on the action.
Next month, Liverpool will hold what is being billed as the first-ever British Heavyweight Slap Fight Competition.
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It is not the first warning public about the sport though.
The alarm was raised in 2021 after Polish slap fighter Artur Walczak suffered a brain bleed during a match in which he was knocked out and lost consciousness.
Despite hospital treatment, he died weeks later of multiple organ failure linked to his head injury.
I mean, it isn’t different from boxing or mma, or any other full contact “sport”. At some point, the pads come off, and the likelihood of injury goes up. But that’s part of what draws people to that kind of activity in the first place.
It isn’t even just combat sports, though things like rugby and American football might as well be called combat sports. I mean, American football has pads at pro (or any organized level) level, and there’s still a shit ton of injury.
Slap fighting is only unique in that every hit is to the head.
The pads actually make the injuries worse as people feel safer and consequently hit harder.
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Depends.
On the pro level, they’re usually hitting the same with or without pads.
At a hobbyist/amateur level, that’s my opinion/experience as well. I know I paid more attention to both defense and how I hit without pads. Well, until I realized I was sloppy with pads.