Whether you call it football or soccer, one of the key plays of the beautiful game is the header.  Players strike the ball with their head dozens of times during a game, and probably millions of times over their lifetime.  It seems crazy to say this, but apparently headbutting things thousands of times per year could possibly be bad for your brain.  A study of the brain matter of 32 amateur adult soccer players using MRI technology revealed brain damage caused by frequent heading of the football.

“We can’t tell an individual today not to be heading a ball, but caution is a good thing.  We need more research for definitive answers and we have the advanced imaging tools to do it,” said Dr. Michael Lipton of the Gruss Magnetic Resonance Research Center at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City, who led the advanced MRI study.  “There are threshold levels where we don’t see brain abnormalities, which means heading is not absolutely bad.  Rules could be developed to alleviate adverse affects by limiting the number of headers allowed for certain age groups or skill levels of play.”

The threshold seems to be at 1000 to 1500 headers a year, according to Dr. Lipton.  That’s when the adult amateur players started to see brain damage in five key areas of the brain, including areas that control attention, memory, physical mobility, and high-level visual functions.

Makes you wonder how high-level players like David Beckham can do it, doesn’t it?  When I played soccer as a child, I hated the header drills we had to do (run 30 yards out, bounce a flying soccer ball off our heads and dribble it back).  It didn’t seem like a good idea to take blows to the head then, and it definitely doesn’t now.

Tags: heading the ball causes brain injuries, soccer, football, Michael Lipton, Gruss Magnetic Resonance Research Center, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York City, New York, MRI, brain injuries, sports, sports and brain injuries, MRI reveals brain injuries after football headers

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