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American football and international hockey have gotten hammered for their brutal hits, which can lead to serious brain injury. But soccer players are also getting their heads examined.
A new study used diffusion tensor imaging, a kind of MRI that can pick up on changes to nerve connections, to look for signs of injury in soccer players who head the ball—a lot.
"The suspicion, concern and the indications of our findings are that changes to the brain similar to what happens when someone has actual head trauma occur in the brain of someone due to heading." Michael Lipton of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. The results were presented at the Radiological Society of North America's Annual Meeting. [Namhee Kim et al., "Making Soccer Safer for the Brain: DTI-defined exposure thresholds for white matter injury due to soccer heading"]
An occasional heading of a soccer ball isn't likely to be a problem—the ball isn't hard enough to directly injure nerve fibers in most cases. But frequent heading might be causing other harm that leads to a deterioration of crucial connections. The researchers found that the changes came in players averaging 1,000 to 1,500 head hits a year. The advice to them: wise up—use your foot.
—Katherine Harmon
[The above text is a transcript of this podcast.]
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6 Comments
Add Comment*The advice to them: wise up—use your foot.*
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThis advice is of no effect, because the head is far above the feet and the feet far below the head. It is simple like that! No more explanation is needed.
Ah, the head is indispensable to make goals in many circumstances!
Injures? The podcast spoke about injures?
The most dangerous headers are defenders heading goal kicks. The ball travels 60-70 yards and comes down from a significant height. These headers are often unnecessary, as trapping the ball with the chest and dropping it at the player's feet is often a better play than putting a 50-50 ball in the air. This technique can be taught when players are young, and would avoid much of the risk from heading. The occasional header on a corner kick or a headed pass in midfield are much less dangerous than goal kicks, and less frequent.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI have been playing soccer all my life and I can totally understand this research. I have had at least 3 close friends quit playing soccer because of numerous concussions they received from heading the ball. Usually, they were defenders who head the ball more often, especially off long goal kicks.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI think that all players should be forced to wear protective head gear, like Chelsea goalie Peter Cech. I also think that coaches should be teaching their young players to try to chest the ball more often, instead of heading the ball.
Fifa, the governing body of soccer, will likely ignore this research. Similar research was released in 2002 from the UK and that was ignored too. Profits over player's health will be Fifa's stance.
I once have tried hitting soccer ball back in high school with my head.I just slowly headed it but i felt like stone pelted on my head directly.There is a lot of force involved with ball while playing at professional level.Ability of those players to sustain hammering pain is amazing.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thislol
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI never use my head when I play soccer, it hurts though it's cool
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