Brain damage i play semi professional rugby. since we don't wear helmets, is there going to be any long term brain damage i should be worried about?

The : The long term effects of one-time or recurring mild traumatic brain injuries (also known as concussions), particularly sports-related injuries, are being heavily investigated by brain scientists and popularized in the media, although they are still incompletely understood. Another name for the long-term, cumulative effects of recurrent mild traumatic brain injury is "chronic traumatic encephalopathy (cte)." the very first description of cte was in 1928 in "punch drunk" boxers. At that time, the condition was called dementia pugilistica. The description included symptoms and findings similar to both parkinson disease and Alzheimer's disease, both of which are progressive, degenerative neurological conditions. More recently, a paper published in the journal neurosurgery, called "chronic traumatic encephalopathy in the national football league, " announced that nfl players with three or more concussions were significantly more likely to develop clinical depression, 3 times more likely to develop memory problems, and 5 times more likely to develop Alzheimer's disease. Autopsy specimens from the brains of deceased nfl players have shown some of the findings of Alzheimer's and other degenerative neurological conditions. Chronic traumatic encephalopathy has also been described in ice hockey players, professional wrestlers and in participants of other contact sports in which helmets are either routinely worn or not.

Of course: You shld be wearing helments. Repetitive trauma to the brain can and will cause long term damage.