SUNDAY, Jan. 15 (HealthDay Information) — Soccer gamers want to make use of the right methods when “heading” — utilizing their unprotected head to cease or redirect the ball — to forestall potential brain injury, researchers say.
Though researchers haven’t but confirmed a hyperlink between the game and brain damage, Dr. Alejandro Spiotta and different specialists from the Cleveland Clinic mentioned soccer balls are transferring at excessive speeds after they come into contact with gamers’ heads, placing athletes in danger for a potential traumatic brain injury.
“Even when the cognitive impairment had been to be delicate, it could nonetheless current a significant medical and public well being concern due to the large quantity of soccer gamers worldwide,” Spiotta and colleagues wrote. “Any potential detrimental impact might solely turn into clinically evident many years sooner or later.”
Of their overview of current analysis, revealed within the January difficulty of Neurosurgery, the researchers mentioned warning about heading have to be used in any respect ranges of soccer. They suggested that kids use age-appropriate balls till they develop the neck power and physique management obligatory for proper heading method.
English soccer participant Jeffrey Astle, who had a fame as a fierce header, died with degenerative mind illness in 2002. The mind harm he sustained was just like persistent traumatic encephalopathy, a degenerative mind illness seen in soccer gamers and different athletes, the researchers mentioned in a journal information launch.
The researchers famous that soccer balls are now not manufactured from leather-based and don’t take in moisture, which can make them safer for heading. Additionally, a debate about the usage of tender headgear to assist shield gamers’ heads is ongoing.
The overview concluded that extra analysis is required to find out the long-term results of heading on soccer gamers’ brains.
— Mary Elizabeth Dallas
Copyright © 2012 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
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SOURCE: Neurosurgery, information launch, January 2012