Heading a Soccer Ball May Cause Long-Term Brain Damage, Says Study

By Justin Sarachik, Christian Post Reporter Tuesday, June 11, 2013

A new study suggests that repeatedly heading a soccer ball over the course of many years may cause long term brain injuries. The study was conducted by Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University in New York.

Researchers observed 30 soccer players who had been playing the sport since their childhood with an average of 22 years playing the game. The average age of the subjects was 31-years-old.

"We studied soccer players because soccer is the world's most popular sport," Dr. Michael L. Lipton said in a statement according to RTT News. "Soccer is widely played by people of all ages and there is concern that heading the ball -- a key component of the sport -- might damage the brain."

Each player underwent a test called diffusion tensor imaging.

"The DTI findings pertaining to the most frequent headers in our study showed white-matter abnormalities similar to what we've seen in patients with concussion," Lipton said. "Our study provides compelling preliminary evidence that brain changes resembling mild traumatic brain injury are associated with frequently heading a soccer ball over many years."

This study comes just a few days after a comprehensive study on children with concussions was released by Dr. Matthew Eisenberg of Harvard Medical School.

280 people ages 11 to 22 were tracked for the study for 12 months upon arriving in the hospital, reported CBS News. After a series of initial tests and follow-ups, the symptoms went away.

The reports found that the more concussions the person had, the more it took to recover each time -- usually twice as long.

The average length for a concussion is 12 days, a second bumps up to 24, with anything above two jumping to in some cases 35 days.

The symptoms the doctors look for in concussion patients according to the Mayo Clinic are: headaches, confusion or feeling foggy, dizziness, ringing in the ears, nausea, vomiting, slurred speech and fatigue.

Another warning sign Mayo Clinic warns about is the possibility of brain swelling (second impact syndrome) if a patient returns to sports activity too fast.

"The most important piece of information that comes out of this study is, if you've had prior concussions, the 10- to 14-day (recovery) thing may be completely out the window," neuropsychologist at the University of Toronto Dr. Paul Comper told Reuters. "For you, it might be a month."