Soccer Injuries

After a recent study, here are some serious concerns now raised with soccer heading……

• Standard soccer heading results in immediate and measurable alterations in brain function.*
• Changes in short and long term memory function and corticomotor inhibition are detectable immediately after soccer heading.*
• These changes in brain function after just a single session of heading appear transient.*
• This data provides direct evidence of immediate brain functional impairment associated with soccer heading.*

Questions have been raised over whether soccer heading might have an effect on a player’s brain, with particular worry over the proposed link between brain injury and increased risk of dementia. However, until now there have been no studies of the immediate effects of heading in soccer directly on brain function. This study found that just a single session of heading practice resulted in temporary impairment of short and long term memory function and in electrophysiological function of the brain. Whether these effects remain temporary after repeated soccer heading exposure and their long-term consequences on brain health must now be investigated.*

This concern translates to all contact sports, whether it be soccer, football, lacrosse, basketball, etc. Over the past few years it’s becoming more and more evident how blows to the head affect brain function not only in the present, but also in one’s future.

Which is why kids, teenagers, and adults playing these sports should have baseline testing done. This allows you to compare not only cognitive function, but processing speed, reaction time, center of pressure (balance), vestibular and visual system function, from a pre-injury state to a post injury state.

Why is this important?

Because, not only are we able to get a better perspective about the degree of injury in a shorter period of time, but more importantly, increase specificity to the system, or systems that may be injured. Which, in turn, greatly aids in arriving at a treatment protocol, reducing the amount of time between injury and treatment, which is crucial to begin the healing process.

At Saponara Brain & Spine Center , our knowledge of clinical neuroscience allows us to not only gather all this baseline information, but also treat in case of an injury. This baseline information will be given to you for your records, and can travel with you in case you should need it.

Contact us today to schedule a consultation.

*Evidence for Acute Electrophysiological and Cognitive Changes Following Routine Soccer Heading – Thomas G. Di Virgilio, Angus Hunter, PhD, Lindsay Wilson, PhD, William Stewart, MD, Stuart Goodall, PhD, Glyn Howatson, PhD, David I. Donaldson, PhD, Magdalena Ietswaart, PhD, EbioMedicine in Collaboration with CellPress-The Lancet, November 2016, Volume 13, Pages 66-71