Heading a soccer ball immediately alters brain functions

[younothat]

Academics at Manchester Metropolitan University's Institute of Sport compared participants performing headers against those performing headers in virtual reality. The study, published on April 20, found that even after a brief session of heading a soccer ball, brain functions and communications to the surrounding muscles are immediately altered

Heading a soccer ball immediately alters brain functions | Watch (msn.com)

All my players stated heading balls during ulittle and continued on through college with the expectation of our old daughter who stopped doing that during her senior year when she got headaches after a couple different games.

If I had to do again I would have followed ussoccer recommendations of waiting until a certain age.

One of our youngest sons coaches in the early days actually retired early as a pro due to concussion syndrome and vertigo but we didn't think much of at the time but now with new research out makes you wonder if we should be teaching heading to the younger players but maybe with different equipment, foam balls or something like that but what are your thoughts?

 

[espola]

Academics at Manchester Metropolitan University's Institute of Sport compared participants performing headers against those performing headers in virtual reality. The study, published on April 20, found that even after a brief session of heading a soccer ball, brain functions and communications to the surrounding muscles are immediately altered

Heading a soccer ball immediately alters brain functions | Watch (msn.com)

All my players stated heading balls during ulittle and continued on through college with the expectation of our old daughter who stopped doing that during her senior year when she got headaches after a couple different games.

If I had to do again I would have followed ussoccer recommendations of waiting until a certain age.

One of our youngest sons coaches in the early days actually retired early as a pro due to concussion syndrome and vertigo but we didn't think much of at the time but now with new research out makes you wonder if we should be teaching heading to the younger players but maybe with different equipment, foam balls or something like that but what are your thoughts?

If you do it right, it is no more concussive that clapping your hands, since the head doesn't snap aside, and the shock is transmitted through the neck bones and muscles into the mass of the body. The problem is that many head/ball collisions occur outside that narrow envelope, the worst being a shot directly from another player's foot.