Hitting a Soccer Ball With Your Head Linked to Brain Injuries [BizWeek]
Hitting a soccer ball with your head, a technique used in scoring and passing, over time is linked to brain injuries that can affect memory in amateur adult players, researchers found.
Those who “headed” the ball more than 1,300 times a year, the
equivalent of a few times a day, were more likely to have injuries to areas of
the brain responsible for attention, memory, planning, organizing and vision,
according to research presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological
Society of North America in Chicago.
Brain injuries in sports are receiving more attention as states
and sports organizations enact rules to increase safety. Soccer balls can go as
fast as 34 miles an hour during recreational play and more than
twice that speed in professional games, researchers said. Determining how much
heading a person can do before injuring the brain is the next step, said lead
study author Michael Lipton....
Soccer, or football as it’s known outside the U.S., is the
world’s most-popular sport. While about 78% of the 18 million Americans
who play are under the age of 18, it’s unclear what the findings might mean for
kids, Lipton said. “There is a lot of reason to be concerned that the effects could
be magnified in children,” he said.
No comments:
Post a Comment