Posted on 11/29/2011 5:04:07 AM PST by decimon
CHICAGO – Using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to study the effects of soccer 'heading,' researchers have found that players who head the ball with high frequency have brain abnormalities similar to those found in traumatic brain injury (TBI) patients. Results of their study were presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).
Heading, in which players field the soccer ball with their head, is an essential part of the game and the focus of many training drills.
"Heading a soccer ball is not an impact of a magnitude that will lacerate nerve fibers in the brain," said Michael L. Lipton, M.D., Ph.D., associate director of the Gruss Magnetic Resonance Research Center at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and medical director of MRI services at Montefiore Medical Center in New York. "But repetitive heading could set off a cascade of responses that can lead to degeneration of brain cells."
DTI, an advanced magnetic resonance (MR) technique, allows researchers to assess microscopic changes in the brain's white matter, which is composed of millions of nerve fibers called axons that act like communication cables connecting various regions of the brain. DTI produces a measurement, called fractional anisotropy (FA), of the movement of water molecules along axons. In healthy white matter, the direction of water movement is fairly uniform and measures high in FA. When water movement is more random, FA values decrease.
"Abnormally low FA within white matter has been associated with cognitive impairment in patients with TBI," Dr. Lipton said.
(Excerpt) Read more at eurekalert.org ...
Maybe this explains part of socialist countries’ fascination with “futbal”....drain bramage!
That doesn't mean it's a good idea to keep smacking your head.
Isn’t it special that all those libs have been causing brain damage to their kids playing the PC approved sport.
Pray for Cain
Getting smacked on the head leads to drain bamage? Who’d a thunk it?
Rush Limbaugh ran ads on his radio show 10 years or more ago about this problem.
So, girls, when you play soccer, don’t head the ball.
I have had two pretty severe concussions (within a short time of each other). I still have migraines as a result. I compensate for short term memory loss by writing everything down on a calendar and have gotten very good at hiding that part of my problem. I see a great neurologist and he told me NOT to enroll my children in soccer. Neurologists see more children as a result of participating in that game. The repetitive head trauma causes a lot of issues... some short term and others long term. I actually called him when my son wanted to go out for football and he was fine with it (padding, helmets, etc). My point is that brain trauma doesn’t always just “go away”. There is a much higher chance that I may develop Parkinsons later in life. I wouldn’t wish what I have dealt with on anyone. IMHO, it is too much a risk.
What about the children, this is a crisis, what is the government going to do about it?
“what is the government going to do ?”
Soccer balls will be taxed like cigarettes.
Don't let him do it. If he's started, I hope you get him to quit. Those pads and helmets aren't protection, they're weapons. I played the game for a while and would not let my boy do so.
Bruce Grobbelaar - what a character! Incredible saves with a nice helping of outrageous blunders all rolled up into one.
He certainly does not fit the mold of a player of a sterile PC sport that both leftist fans and conservative critics hold. If they knew more about the game, there would be more conservative soccer fans and less liberal soccer fans.
It’s also the most BORING damn game in the world...
It’s also the most BORING damn game in the world...
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