COMPARISON OF ALPHA FREQUENCY BAND POWER IN ACTIVE AMATEUR BOXERS AND SEDENTARY INDIVIDUALS USING EEG TECHNOLOGY

Chronic traumatic brain injury has been a major concern in combat sports, particularly boxing, due to the reoccurring impacts to the head that might result in lasting neurological effects. This research was conducted to address the lack of sufficient research on the resting-state alpha frequency band power in active amateur boxers, which may provide insights into early signs of brain injury. Participants included 7 male amateur boxers whose average age was 19.57 ± 2.63 and who had been actively boxing for 7.57 ± 3.55 years, and 9 healthy males whose average age was 19.88 ± 0.92 and who had not participated in any combat sports. EEG recordings were obtained according to the international 10-20 system for 3 minutes with eyes open and 3 minutes with eyes closed. The raw EEG data were inspected and cleaned to remove artifacts. Finite Impulse Response (FIR) and Infinite Impulse Response (IIR) filters were applied to eliminate unwanted frequencies during frequency analysis. Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) was utilized to convert EEG signals from the time domain to the frequency domain and to calculate alpha band power (µV²). The data obtained were analyzed using the Analyzer2 software. Mann-Whitney U test was utilized to measure the dissimilarities between the two groups. When examining the alpha frequency band power values of participants at rest with eyes open and eyes closed, there were not any statistically significant dissimilarities in the frontopolar region (Fp1, Fp2), frontal region (F3, F4), central region (C3, Cz, C4), parietal region (P3, Pz, P4), and occipital region (O1, Oz, O2) in terms of microvolts squared (µV²) of the groups. However, boxers had partially lower alpha frequency band power values in all analyzed channels. This finding may be related to the specific sport practiced. Although no significant dissimilarities were noted in alpha frequency band power values between the two groups, the lower values observed in boxers across all channels may be linked to the repetitive head impacts inherent in the sport. This finding highlights the importance of further research to explore the neurophysiological effects of boxing and the potential role of protective measures in minimizing health risks.