Concussions are a common injury among competitive team sport players, but previous studies have suggested the biggest risk comes from direct head impact with another player or a goal post. A new survey of amateur soccer players shows that heading—deflecting the ball with one’s head—can increase the risk of concussion symptoms. 45% of respondents have admitted to experiencing classic concussion symptoms (headache, confusion, and dizziness) to varying degrees of severity after heading the soccer ball during the game or practice. None of these injuries resulted in an actual concussion diagnosis, but authors say that it’s worth inspecting how much smaller heading damage amounts to a cumulative injury over time.
Authors:
Hester Lingsma and Andrew Maas
Corresponding author:
Michael L. Lipton, Department of Radiology, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral sciences, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Email: michael.lipton@einstein.yu.edu
Original paper published in Neurology on February 1, 2017.
