Just A Heads Up!

Just a heads up for all of you soccer players out there….Repetitive soccer ball ‘heading’ could lead to brain injury. In the past decade, the focus has been primarily on football players and military personnel who have sustained concussions and/or mild to severe brain injuries. According to an article by Loren Grush from FoxNews.com, another kind of athlete could potentially be at risk for similar types of brain abnormalities which have a lasting impact on cognition and memory: Soccer players. Researchers utilized (MRI) techniques and found that numerous repetitions of the soccer move, ‘heading’ is associated with adverse brain changes comparable to those found in patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI). Active soccer players will head the ball an average of five to six time during a match, however the bulk of soccer heading occurs during practice sessions, when a player could repeatedly head the ball up to 30 times or more. The more heading players did, the more likely they were to have abnormalities in brain microstructure and worse cognitive performance.

Annie Snead in "Scientific America" Writes:

"It has become clear that impact sports like football and boxing can cause long-term brain damage. Now soccer is coming under scrutiny. As evidence mounts that excessively heading a soccer ball can injure a player’s brain, professional players such as Brandi Chastain, a star of the 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup, are using this year’s tournament to call attention to the health risks facing young players. To learn about the latest science on soccer heading and brain injuries, Scientific American spoke to Robert Cantu, professor of neurosurgery at the Boston University School of Medicine and co-founder of the Sports Legacy Institute."

This is the ugly truth, and another good reason to strengthen your neck to possibly help prevent a concussion. After all, it COULD hurt NOT to.

?Read these articles at: https://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/06/11/repetitive-soccer-ball-heading-could-lead-to-brain-injury/

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