Soccer is one of the most popular sports in the world. Players are seen as idols and in some cases receive large sums of money for their skill in handling the ball. But could soccer have any cost to them? Well, according to the data published in the journal Radiology , it could depend on the number of times they hit the ball with the head. Michael L. Lipton and his colleagues have investigated whether there is any relationship between head-hitting the ball and the presence of subclinical evidence of traumatic brain damage.
A total of 37 amateur soccer players participated in the study, in which they were asked to complete a questionnaire on the number of blows to the ball they had hit the head in the 12 months prior to the test, as well as their history of trauma previous. All of them completed an evaluation of cognitive functions with a battery of computerized tests and, in addition, they underwent diffusion tensor MRI, a method that allows analyzing the structure of the fibers of the cerebral white matter.
The results showed that the soccer players participating in the research had delivered an average of 432 head shots to the ball during the year prior to the study . Heading the ball was associated with a lower fractional anisotropy in the temporo-occipital areas of the brain, indicating alterations in the microstructure of the cerebral white matter. This data, in turn, was associated with worse performance in memory tests, especially when exceeding 1800 strokes per year. Playing sports is generally healthy, even financially profitable for many, but it may not be without risks to cognitive health. Take care of yourself and don’t forget to train your brain too.
Marisa Fernández, Senior Neuropsychologist, Unobrain
