Heading Soccer Ball Linked to Brain Injury
Regularly Hitting Soccer Ball With Head Linked to Memory Problems
By Charlene Laino
WebMD Health News
Reviewed by Laura J. Martin, MD
Nov. 29, 2011 (Chicago) -- Using your head in soccer may not always be the best thing.
Regularly hitting a soccer ball with your head -- even just a few times a day -- has been linked to traumatic brain injuries, researchers report.
In a preliminary study, 32 amateur soccer players who "headed" the ball more than 1,000 to 1,500 times a year, the equivalent of a few times a day, had abnormalities in areas of the brain responsible for memory, attention, planning, organizing, and vision.
Young men who headed the ball less frequently did not show these abnormalities on brain scans, according to the study, presented here at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America.
A previous study of the same 32 amateur soccer players also showed that those who headed the ball more than 1,000 times a year scored worse on tests of memory and reaction time, says researcher Michael Lipton, MD, PhD, associate director of the Gruss Magnetic Resonance Research Center at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in Bronx, N.Y.
(More here.)
By Charlene Laino
WebMD Health News
Reviewed by Laura J. Martin, MD
Nov. 29, 2011 (Chicago) -- Using your head in soccer may not always be the best thing.
Regularly hitting a soccer ball with your head -- even just a few times a day -- has been linked to traumatic brain injuries, researchers report.
In a preliminary study, 32 amateur soccer players who "headed" the ball more than 1,000 to 1,500 times a year, the equivalent of a few times a day, had abnormalities in areas of the brain responsible for memory, attention, planning, organizing, and vision.
Young men who headed the ball less frequently did not show these abnormalities on brain scans, according to the study, presented here at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America.
A previous study of the same 32 amateur soccer players also showed that those who headed the ball more than 1,000 times a year scored worse on tests of memory and reaction time, says researcher Michael Lipton, MD, PhD, associate director of the Gruss Magnetic Resonance Research Center at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in Bronx, N.Y.
(More here.)
Powered by Blogger
1 Comments:
This is impressive article about the memory loss, I'm a soccer player and heading many times in my evening practice sessions, and 'll be stay alert throughout heading sessions. This report is something serious for whom soccer players will take seriously.
Post a Comment
<< Home