Hey kids: It’s good to use your head—but not in soccer!
This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science.
Soccer players “head” the ball about twelve times per game, more during practices.
Michael Lipton of Albert Einstein College of Medicine wanted to know more. In short, does this cause any lasting harm?
To wrap his head around the problem, Lipton brain-scanned amateur players. He looked for changes in the billions of nerve fibers called axons. Specifically? He looked at the movement of water molecules along axons.
In healthy axons, water movement is orderly. In abnormal axons, water movement can be more random.
And? The players who headed the most balls per year had the most random water movement. They also scored lower on memory tests.
Bottom line: a “header” here and there is pretty harmless. But repetitively heading a soccer ball? Say, over eighteen-hundred times per year? This can lead to problems similar to those of traumatic brain injury. Pro
So never mind shin guards, what about helmets? And squishy Nerf soccer balls? Just a suggestion.
***** For more 90-SECOND SCIENCE FACTS, click here.*****
***** This Thursday, from 2-3 p.m. on the LDOS blog: Sandra chats with author Amy Alkon about her book I See Rude People.*****