Soccer players whose heads were hit in a head jump ball two or more times in a two-week period are six times more likely to have concussion symptoms than other athletes who did not have any unintended head trauma, such as a ball hitting the back of the head or colliding with another player's head.

The Impact Might Lead To Concussion

"These concerns show that heading the ball is indeed correlated to concussion symptoms, which is opposing to a recent study that suggested that collisions were accountable for most concussions," said study author Michael L. Lipton, MD, PhD, of Albert Einstein College of Medicine in Bronx, NY. "The findings raise worries about the long-term effects from heading the ball, and more study is needed."

The study involved amateur soccer players who played at least six months on leagues or clubs. The players completed an online survey about how often they played soccer during the preceding two weeks, how many times they had accidental head impacts and how many times they headed the ball. The members were divided into four groups based on how frequently they headed the ball, with the top group heading the ball an average of 125 times in two weeks and a group heading the ball four times in two weeks.

They were also asked how often they had any indications from the head impacts. Reasonable impact was defined as moderate pain and some dizziness. Severe impact was clear as feeling dazed, stopping play, or needing medical care. A severe impact was defined as losing consciousness. Participants could complete the survey again every three months.

A total of 222 players completed 470 opinion poll; 79 percent were men. Men had an average of 44 headers in two weeks and women had an average of 27. 37 percent of men and 43 percent of women reported one or more unintended head impacts.

Indicators May Not Be Notice On Early Stage

Of those with head impacts, 20 percent had reasonable to severe symptoms. Seven people had very severe signs. Of those, six people had two or more inadvertent head influences during the two weeks; four were in the group that headed the ball the most and three were in the group with the second-most headers.

Those in the set with the most headers were three times more likely to have indications than those who headed the ball the least. The players with two or more unintended impacts were six times more likely to have indications than those with no impacts; these results reveal how often the players headed the ball. Players with one unintentional impact are three times more likely to have symptoms than those with no unintentional impacts. The link amongst both headers and unintentional impacts stayed the same after scientists adjusted for other factors that could affect concussion danger, such as a history of prior concussions, sex, and age.

Lipton said one restraint of the study is that the data was self-reported by the participants, which could present errors in recollection. He also noted that the results cannot be widespread to soccer players who are youths, children, or skilled players.