Soccer Players Who 'Head' Ball May Lose Theirs
If your son (daughter) is like mine, he loves to play soccer. But a disturbing new report is finding that it's every bit as dangerous as football when it comes to your head. According to a story at newswise.com, researchers have found that "soccer players who frequently head the ball have brain abnormalities resembling those found in patients with concussion (mild traumatic brain injury)." The researchers studied soccer because it's the most popular sport in the world. “Soccer is widely played by people of all ages and there is concern that heading the ball—a key component of the sport—might damage the brain," newswise.com quoted Michael L. Lipton , M.D., Ph.D., associate director of Einstein’s Gruss Magnetic Resonance Research Center and medical director of MRI services at Montefiore, the University Hospital and academic medical center for Einstein, who led the study. Soccer players "head" the ball six to 12 times during games, where balls ca...