Research says heading the ball leads to brain damage

TeddyTedson

From Sky News

Regularly heading a football just a few times a day can cause brain damage, according to a study.

US researchers say the effect is similar to that seen in patients who have suffered traumatic brain injury.
MRI scans showed that players who headed a ball more than 1,000 to 1,500 times a year suffered significant changes to their brains.
Dr Michael Lipton, of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, said: "It only amounts to a few times a day for a regular player.
"Heading a soccer ball is not an impact of a magnitude that will lacerate nerve fibres in the brain.
"But repetitive heading could set off a cascade of responses that can lead to degeneration of brain cells."
The researchers used a highly sensitive form of MRI to scan the brains of 38 amateur players. The images revealed microscopic damage to the brain's white matter, which contains millions of nerve fibres providing the communication link between different parts of the brain.
The regions affected were responsible for attention, memory and visual functions, according to results revealed at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America.
Further research found that players who headed a ball most frequently performed worse on tests of verbal memory and psychomotor speed, a measure of hand-eye coordination.
"These two studies present compelling evidence that brain injury and cognitive impairment can result from heading a soccer ball with high frequency," Dr Lipton said.
But Dr Andrew Rutherford, of Keele University in Staffordshire, who has studied the neuropsychological consequences of heading a football, said the research was flawed.
"I would be fairly sceptical," he told Sky News.
"People who head a football are competing. They clash heads and get hit by the elbows of other players. Unless that is controlled you do not know whether you are looking at the consequences of concussion."
A coroner ruled in 2002 that former West Bromwich Albion and England footballer Jeff Astle died from a degenerative brain disease caused by heading heavy, old-style leather footballs.

Seems like hysterics to me. I couldn't imagine it can be through, not with todays footballs anyway. Getting blasted in the back of the head with a football repeatedly maybe do damage but surely not just regular heading of the ball.
As least we know Sepp Blatter is so against changing any rules of the game we'll never see any action taken here:cool:
There's basically every player who played with the old leather footballs not affected so I don't think we need to worry :P

Dotrel

It's easy to say "wouldn't happen with todays lighter ball", but who really knows. When you get right down it it's fairly unique in sport to be repeatedly deliberately throwing your head into scenarios of impact. Not many other sports feature such requirements.

stovelid

No hard evidence that constant heading of the ball has a negative effect..

Kess73

Jamie Redknapp must have stayed behind after training for years to practise heading the ball.

danniemcq

Dotrel wrote: »

It's easy to say "wouldn't happen with todays lighter ball", but who really knows. When you get right down it it's fairly unique in sport to be repeatedly deliberately throwing your head into scenarios of impact. Not many other sports feature such requirements.

lighter ball wouldn't really matter as the kicker of the ball can kick it harder, so the force of the impact would be similer if not worse than heavier balls

F=m*a

huh actually according to the great accurate source that is wiki

This rule still applies for the association football official matches played today all over the world. The early rules specified a weight of 13–15 oz (370–430 g) which was however changed in 1937 to the current accepted weight, 14–16 oz (400–450 g). At the same time, the association agreed that the official association football ball must be covered in leather or any approved material.

so these days an stongly kicked ball (67 mph?) would generate 12.6newtons of force on your noggin which would relate to maybe a kilo and a bit smack

and going with the stongest kick ever (132 mph) you'd have a collision hitting 24 newtons which would be a brain rattling 2 and a half kilos.

This doesn't count your efforts jumping towards the ball though.

I think my math is correct although if not please point it out!

TheBuilder

Americans are mental when it comes to heading the ball. I spent the last two summers in California coaching and some of the stories I heard were mental.

"My mum says I'm not allowed to head the ball because it will give me a brain tumour"

"My son is not allowed to head the ball incase it makes him go blind"

"I don't want my two kids heading the ball this week, I've heard its dangerous if it hits them the wrong way".

People have been heading the ball for years and years and its never seemed to have done any harm, sensationalist nonsense imo.

Turtyturd

stovelid wrote: »

No hard evidence that constant heading of the ball has a negative effect..

You may have a case with the first 2 but Dirk Kuyt's da didn't even play football.

Packie Bonner could be charged with assault on Cascarino and Quinn.

Dotrel

danniemcq wrote: »

lighter ball wouldn't really matter as the kicker of the ball can kick it harder, so the force of the impact would be similer if not worse than heavier balls

F=m*a

huh actually according to the great accurate source that is wiki



so these days an stongly kicked ball (67 mph?) would generate 12.6newtons of force on your noggin which would relate to maybe a kilo and a bit smack

and going with the stongest kick ever (132 mph) you'd have a collision hitting 24 newtons which would be a brain rattling 2 and a half kilos.

This doesn't count your efforts jumping towards the ball though.

I think my math is correct although if not please point it out!

I'd imagine there's also probably other factors to take into account such as the density and elasticity of the projectile as well force per area on impact.

I mean for example I'd rather get hit in the head with a football going 130kph than a baseball going 130kph.

stovelid

rarnes1 wrote: »

Packie Bonner could be charged with assault on Cascarino and Quinn.

Genius.

danniemcq

Dotrel wrote: »

I'd imagine there's also probably other factors to take into account such as the density and elasticity of the projectile as well force per area on impact.

I mean for example I'd rather get hit in the head with a football going 130kph than a baseball going 130kph.

i knew i'd miss something!

stewie01

explains a lot.

Richard Hillman

I never head the ball myself unless there is little force in the ball. Not a hope I would head a kick from a keeper, unless I'm getting paid.

Dotrel

danniemcq wrote: »

i knew i'd miss something!

Nah I'm sure there's a hundred factors. I just threw a few more into the mix.

SEPT 23 1989

TeRmInAlCrAzY

Got knocked out once on a header. Don't really remember much about it (surprise), but I will tell ya this, I never really got back into taking a header after that. My brain simply screams "no no no no!" and that's all she wrote.