Ω
Using advanced imaging techniques and cognitive tests, researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University and Montefiore Medical Center, the University Hospital and academic medical center for Einstein, have shown that repeatedly heading a soccer ball increases the risk for brain injury and cognitive impairment. The imaging portion of the findings was presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) in Chicago.
The researchers used diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), an advanced MRI-based imaging technique, on 38 amateur soccer players (average age: 30.8 years) who had all played the sport since childhood. They were asked to recall the number of times they headed the ball during the past year. (Heading is when players deliberately hit or field the soccer ball with their head.) Researchers ranked the players based on heading frequency and then compared the brain images of the most frequent headers with those of the remaining players. They found that frequent headers showed brain injury similar to that seen in patients with concussion, also known as mild traumatic brain injury (TBI).
The findings are especially concerning given that soccer is the world's most popular sport with popularity growing in the U.S., especially among children. Of the 18 million Americans who play soccer, 78 percent are under the age of eighteen. Soccer balls are known to travel at speeds as high as 34 miles per hour during recreational play, and more than twice that during professional play.
After confirming the potentially damaging impact of frequent heading, "Our goal was to determine if there is a threshold level for heading frequency that, when surpassed, resulted in detectable brain injury," said lead author Michael Lipton, M.D., Ph.D., director of Einstein's Gruss Magnetic Resonance Research Center and medical director of MRI services at Montefiore. Further analysis revealed a threshold level of approximately 1,000 to 1,500 heads per year. Once players in the study exceeded that number, researchers observed significant injury.
"While heading a ball 1,000 or 1,500 times a year may seem high to those who don't participate in the sport, it only amounts to a few times a day for a regular player," observed Dr. Lipton, who is also associate professor of radiology, of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, and of the Dominick P. Purpura Department of Neuroscience at Einstein.
"Heading a soccer ball is not an impact of a magnitude that will lacerate nerve fibers in the brain," said Dr. Lipton. "But repetitive heading may set off a cascade of responses that can lead to degeneration of brain cells."
Researchers identified five areas, in the frontal lobe (behind the forehead) and in the temporo-occipital region (the bottom-rear areas) of the brain that were affected by frequent heading – areas that are responsible for attention, memory, executive functioning and higher-order visual functions. In a related study, Dr. Lipton and colleague Molly Zimmerman, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Saul R. Korey Department of Neurology at Einstein, gave the same 38 amateur soccer players tests designed to assess their neuropsychological function. Players with the highest annual heading frequency performed worse on tests of verbal memory and psychomotor speed (activities that require mind-body coordination, like throwing a ball) relative to their peers.
"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. "These are findings that should be taken into consideration in planning future research to develop approaches to protect soccer players."
Heading is an essential part of soccer and is unlikely to be eliminated from practice or play. As there appears to be a safe range for heading frequency, additional research can help refine this number, which can then be used to establish heading guidelines. As in other sports, the frequency of potentially harmful actions in practice and games could be monitored and restricted based on confirmed unsafe exposure thresholds.
"In the past, pitchers in Little League Baseball sustained shoulder injuries at a rate that was alarming," Dr. Lipton noted. "But ongoing research has helped shape various approaches, including limits on the amount of pitching a child performs, which have substantially reduced the incidence of these injuries."
"Brain injury due to heading in children, if we confirm that it occurs, may not show up on our radar because the impairment will not be immediate and can easily be attributed to other causes like ADHD or learning disabilities," continued Dr. Lipton. "We, including the agencies that supervise and encourage soccer play, need to do the further research to precisely define the impact of excessive heading on children and adults in order to develop parameters within which soccer play will be safe over the long term."
Ω
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Heading in Soccer—Could It Lead to Brain Injury?
Ω
Could heading the ball in soccer lead to degenerative brain disease, like that seen in athletes in other sports? That's the question addressed by a review in the January issue of Neurosurgery, official journal of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health.
As yet there's not clear evidence to link heading to short- or long-term brain injury, according to Dr Alejandro M. Spiotta of the Cleveland Clinic and colleagues. However, while research is ongoing, they stress the need for proper heading technique at all levels of organized soccer.
New Review of Evidence on Heading and Brain Injury Risk in Soccer
Soccer (called football outside the United States) is the only sport in which players use their unprotected heads to intentionally deflect, stop, or redirect the ball. Headed balls travel at high velocity both before and after impact, raising concerns about possible traumatic injury.
In 2002, English footballer Jeffrey Astle, known as a "formidable header," died with degenerative brain disease. The damage was consistent with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE): a progressive neurodegenerative disease caused by repeated brain injury, seen in American football players and other athletes. Those reports have prompted concerns about similar risks in soccer players.
Although concussions are common in soccer, they more often result from the head striking another player or the goalpost, rather than heading the ball. But there's still concern about long-term injury related to repetitive trauma from heading.
Detailed biomechanical studies have been performed, showing that heading is a complex task in which significant energy is absorbed by the head. Emphasizing the importance of proper heading technique, studies have shown that anticipation and "pre-tensing" of the neck muscles play a key role in absorbing and redirecting the impact of a headed ball.
Pending Further Research, Emphasis on Proper Heading Technique
Older studies reported symptoms related to heading ("footballers' migraine"), but more recent research has not confirmed those effects. One factor may be the introduction of newer soccer balls that don't absorb moisture—unlike the leather balls used in Jeffrey Astle's day.
Soft headgear has been suggested to protect against soccer-related head injuries, although studies have questioned the protective benefits. There are even concerns that wearing headgear might even lead to increased injury risk, if players develop a false sense of security.
For now, the data on heading and brain injury "leave us somewhat in the grey zone," according to Dr Spiotta and colleagues. While it's reassuring that there's no clear link to CTE, the potential for long-term brain injury remains. "Even if the cognitive impairment were to be mild, it would still present a major medical and public health concern because of the massive volume of soccer players worldwide," the researchers write. "Any possible detrimental effect…may only become clinically evident decades in the future."
Dr Spiotta and coauthors emphasize the need for further research—including autopsy studies of players in the "light ball" era—to see if there is any similarity to the patterns of brain injury seen in CTE. Meanwhile, "Proper heading technique should continue to be stressed at all levels of play." The authors also highlight the importance of using an age-appropriate ball size for younger soccer players, as they develop the neck strength and posture control needed for proper heading technique.
Ω
Could heading the ball in soccer lead to degenerative brain disease, like that seen in athletes in other sports? That's the question addressed by a review in the January issue of Neurosurgery, official journal of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health.
As yet there's not clear evidence to link heading to short- or long-term brain injury, according to Dr Alejandro M. Spiotta of the Cleveland Clinic and colleagues. However, while research is ongoing, they stress the need for proper heading technique at all levels of organized soccer.
New Review of Evidence on Heading and Brain Injury Risk in Soccer
Soccer (called football outside the United States) is the only sport in which players use their unprotected heads to intentionally deflect, stop, or redirect the ball. Headed balls travel at high velocity both before and after impact, raising concerns about possible traumatic injury.
In 2002, English footballer Jeffrey Astle, known as a "formidable header," died with degenerative brain disease. The damage was consistent with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE): a progressive neurodegenerative disease caused by repeated brain injury, seen in American football players and other athletes. Those reports have prompted concerns about similar risks in soccer players.
Although concussions are common in soccer, they more often result from the head striking another player or the goalpost, rather than heading the ball. But there's still concern about long-term injury related to repetitive trauma from heading.
Detailed biomechanical studies have been performed, showing that heading is a complex task in which significant energy is absorbed by the head. Emphasizing the importance of proper heading technique, studies have shown that anticipation and "pre-tensing" of the neck muscles play a key role in absorbing and redirecting the impact of a headed ball.
Pending Further Research, Emphasis on Proper Heading Technique
Older studies reported symptoms related to heading ("footballers' migraine"), but more recent research has not confirmed those effects. One factor may be the introduction of newer soccer balls that don't absorb moisture—unlike the leather balls used in Jeffrey Astle's day.
Soft headgear has been suggested to protect against soccer-related head injuries, although studies have questioned the protective benefits. There are even concerns that wearing headgear might even lead to increased injury risk, if players develop a false sense of security.
For now, the data on heading and brain injury "leave us somewhat in the grey zone," according to Dr Spiotta and colleagues. While it's reassuring that there's no clear link to CTE, the potential for long-term brain injury remains. "Even if the cognitive impairment were to be mild, it would still present a major medical and public health concern because of the massive volume of soccer players worldwide," the researchers write. "Any possible detrimental effect…may only become clinically evident decades in the future."
Dr Spiotta and coauthors emphasize the need for further research—including autopsy studies of players in the "light ball" era—to see if there is any similarity to the patterns of brain injury seen in CTE. Meanwhile, "Proper heading technique should continue to be stressed at all levels of play." The authors also highlight the importance of using an age-appropriate ball size for younger soccer players, as they develop the neck strength and posture control needed for proper heading technique.
Ω
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
