Study Links Soccer, Brain Impairment Players Not Quite On The Ball After Hitting It With Their Heads
Soccer players who repeatedly hit the ball with their heads suffer a mild form of the same mental impairment that afflicts boxers who have received multiple concussions, according to a report presented Saturday in New York.
Skilled soccer players who take head shots at least 10 times a game score an average of 9 points lower on a standard IQ test than do their peers who head the ball infrequently, psychologist Adrienne Witol of the Medical College of Virginia told a meeting of the American Psychological Association.
And 10 of the 17 players in this highest heading category scored among the bottom 5 percent of all Americans in a frequently used test of concentration and attention, she said, suggesting that years of having a 13-ounce ball impact their heads at 60 mph has produced significant damage.
The study sparks particular concern because of the growing number of children who are learning the sport - and being taught to use their heads - at an early age.
“I’ve never seen anybody injured by heading the ball … but I can see that this might be something that needs to be looked into,” said Roland Bedard, executive director of the Soccer Association for Youth.
“Blows to the head damage the brain, and it doesn’t make much difference what causes the blow,” said Dr. George Lundberg, editor of the Journal of the American Medical Association, who has long campaigned against the more obvious brain damage caused by boxing.
Several individual cases of “punch-drunk” retired soccer players have been reported in medical literature, although the cause of their disorders was not officially established.
But Witol said in an interview that parents of young soccer players should not panic.
“This is a preliminary study. You don’t base a huge decision on whether or not soccer play is horribly dangerous and pull kids out based on one study,” she said.
She added, however: “If I had a child, I would discourage him from heading the ball until I had more answers.”
Testing was done in the midst of the soccer season, so the study does not show whether the apparent decreases in mental powers are temporary or permanent, Witol said.
The study by Witol and psychologist Frank M. Webbe of the Florida Institute of Technology appears to be the first scientific investigation of the problem.
Witol and Webbe studied 60 skilled male soccer players over the age of 14 and compared them to each other and to a group of 12 males of comparable age and educational attainment.
“I think Dr. Witol alerts us to a potential problem in this country with soccer and in particular, heading,” commented Jeffrey T. Barth, chief of psychology at the University of Virginia Medical School.
Barth, who has studied the effects of mild head injuries on college football players, also stressed that the results are preliminary.
The effect on everyday life, how long the impairments last and even whether they really come from the impact with the ball rather than some other aspect of playing soccer must still be studied, he said.