TBI and martial arts/sparring

[Epicwinguy]

I sustained a traumatic brain injury in my teens. I came out pretty well, no memory loss or retardation save for trouble focusing on reading, which I am working on.

One of the things I really want to get into is MMA or boxing. Being that I currently make little money I am sort of limited to contact sparring. I was advised against this by my doctor years ago when I sustained it, or rather, against playing contact sports.

I don't really have headaches usually, but sometimes when I shake my head a little too hard or get up from a sitting position too fast my head hurts. What is the safest way to spar in my case?

Btw, I did a little sparring here and there last year and was mostly fine but that was controlled sparring. I prefer full contact sparring or something close to it.

 

[Bible_Belt]

"Full-contact sparring" is a contradiction in terms. If we're sparring, it means you are my training partner, and one does not try to hurt one's training partner. So even though we hit each other, we're wearing 16 ounce training gloves, and we still don't hit nearly as hard as a real match. Sparring is about timing, footwork, form, and conditioning. Hitting hard is not supposed to be part of it.