Brain damage in soccer players linked to heading the ball Repeatedly heading a soccer ball can lead to brain injuries, US researchers have found. Picture: AP Source: AFP HEADING the ball may increase the risk of brain damage to soccer players, new research has indicated. The US study, which concentrated on schoolgirl footballers, revealed evidence of mental impairment cause by repeatedly heading of the ball. Scientists said the effects suggested "mild traumatic brain injury of the frontal lobes." However, they stressed more research was required to determine whether the changes were permanent or temporary. The study featured a group of 12 teenage female footballers and a matching group of non-players. Both groups were given a computer screen response test designed to assess levels of mental alertness. The participants had to react to the random appearance of a white square by touching a point on the opposite side of the screen.Their performance was measured by response speed. The girls who played soccer were, prior to taking the test, involved in a practice session where they headed the ball a number of times. Results showed the footballers were significantly slower at the task than the non-players. However, both groups performed equally well in another task where they had to touch the white square where it appeared, a test that involved less thinking time and a more instinctive response. Researchers said the more hours spent playing football led to slower responses and this was a greater factor than merely the number of playing years. Previous studies into the effect of heading a football have been contradictory. An Australian researcher in 2004 said it did cause brain damage after a 2003 editorial in the British Medical Journal reckoned such an outcome "unlikely." But Anne Sereno, from the University of Texas, and her colleagues who were the authors of the latest US study wrote in the online journal PLoS ONE: "These findings suggest that even subconcussive blows in soccer can result in cognitive function changes that are consistent with mild traumatic brain injury of the frontal lobes. Further study is needed to track soccer players for longer periods to evaluate if these changes are transient or longer-lasting, if they are dependent upon repeated subconcussive blows, and if they generalise to male soccer players. To our knowledge, these results provide the first evidence that even subconcussive blows in soccer could lead to measurable, even if possibly transient, cognitive changes in young soccer players. After former England footballer Jeff Astle, a centre forward renowned for his heading ability, died aged just 59 in 2002, an inquest ruled he had suffered death by "industrial injury." However, leather footballs used for the bulk of Astle's career were considerably heavier than modern plastic ones used by the girls in the US study, especially when wet. While competitors across many sports worry about the health effects of concussion, for administrators there is a looming financial cost as players are now more prepared than ever to take legal action in response to head injuries. The issue came to the fore after Junior Seau, considered one of the NFL's greatest linebackers, shot himself dead last May at the age of 43. A post-mortem examination of his brain revealed that, like dozens of former players, he was suffering from the degenerative brain disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy.