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Study: Heading a soccer ball changes brain chemistry

2025-06-25 17:30:00, Shëndeti CNA

Study: Heading a soccer ball changes brain chemistry

Heading the ball can be a dramatic and game-changing action during a soccer match.

Unfortunately, football players pay a price every time they make this move, a new study argues.

Bouncing a soccer ball off your head damages a person's brain even if it doesn't result in a concussion, researchers reported June 18 in Sports Medicine-Open.

Magnetic resonance imaging scans of soccer players show that heading the ball subtly changes the chemistry and neural function in the brain and causes slightly elevated levels of proteins that have been associated with brain damage, researchers have found.

For the new study, researchers asked 15 male soccer players to head the ball 20 times in 20 minutes. The balls were launched at a constant speed from a machine, and each player also spent a second round kicking the ball to provide a means of comparison.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans revealed changes in the chemistry of a region of the brain involved in body movement, as well as decreased electrical conductivity in some areas.

This suggests that the stroke affects how the brain uses energy and how information is transmitted through white matter, the nerve tissue that connects different parts of the brain, the researchers said.

Meanwhile, blood samples showed high levels of two proteins associated with brain damage and the risk of future dementia - glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) and neurofilament light (NFL).

The brain changes associated with heading the ball were much smaller than those found in people with dementia or concussions, and the researchers noted that none of the players showed signs of cognitive impairment after heading the ball.

The researchers noted that some countries, including the US and the UK, are gradually imposing restrictions on the use of heading the ball, including banning the practice among young players./ CNA





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