Heading – where the soccer ball is bounced off the head – is a common way of handling the ball in soccer, but it could be causing brain injury if performed too often, according to a new study presented today (November 29) at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America.
Researchers at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York used an advanced magnetic resonance technique called diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to look at the brain function of 32 amateur soccer players. After figuring out roughly how often each player headed the ball, researchers then compared the brains of those who performed the maneuver most often against the rest of the players.
The measurement from DTI is called fractional anisotropy (FA), which marks how well and uniformly water moves along nerve fibers in the brain. The researchers found a significant difference in FA measurements in players who headed the ball most often, particularly in the brain regions responsible for attention, memory, executive functioning and higher-order visual functions.
According to the study results, the body can handle about 1,000 to 1,500 heads a year before the brain begins to show signs of damage.
"Given that soccer is the most popular sport worldwide and is played extensively by children, these are findings that should be taken into consideration in order to protect soccer players," noted lead author Dr. Michael Lipton.