Researchers extensively assess the safety of using your head in youth football

The findings, which represent the most comprehensive real-time study of soccer headers in adolescent athletes, were published in Journal of Biomechanical Engineering.

For some professional athletes, repetitive head strain during exercise – using your head as part of the game – is associated with negative long-term brain health, even in the absence of initial clinical symptoms. Despite awareness of the long-term consequences, short-term neurophysiological problems following repetitive head impacts, such as heading in football, are poorly understood in youth athletes. Some studies have identified potential problems throughout an entire sports season. This study examined the effects of repeated head impacts shortly after track exposure using a battery of six different tests to investigate a broader range of potential clinical implications.

In 2015, the U.S. Soccer Federation introduced limits on teenagers’ heading during practices: no more than 30 minutes of heading practice time and no more than 15 to 20 headers per week. The English Premier League has also adopted guidelines limiting the number of high-force headers to 10 in one training session per week. This laboratory study simulated these limits by performing 10 repeated football headers within one session with experienced teenage players. Based on their findings, researchers determined that this practice did not result in acute neurophysiological problems, as assessed by a comprehensive study. The study did not assess the safety of regular football heads over the course of a season or college career.

“Football is a sport where deliberately using your head to hit the ball is an integral part of the game, and parents, caregivers and coaches are understandably concerned about its long-term consequences,” said first study author Colin Huber , PhD, a postdoctoral researcher at Emory University who conducted this research at the Center for Injury Research and Prevention (CIRP) at CHOP. “We wanted to simulate these effects in a controlled laboratory environment and build on the work of previous studies to quantitatively assess the neurophysiological effects of repetitive football playing.”

In this study, 19 participants (17 men, 2 women) between 13 and 18 years old were assigned to a frontal head group (directing the ball back to where it came from), an oblique head group (pointing the ball to the right). ) or a kicking control group. These participants completed neurophysiological assessments immediately before, immediately after, and approximately 24 hours after completing 10 head or kick movements. These assessments include multiple eye movement tracking, pupil response, and balance testing.

The study ultimately found no neurophysiological problems in either group compared to the kicking control group, even when the six different assessments were taken into account. However, angled headers resulted in higher levels of angular head movements. Angular movements have been linked to concussions and other brain injuries, suggesting that players need to be properly trained to head the ball head-on to reduce the risk of injury.

“This study represents the most comprehensive investigation to date on the acute neurophysiological effects of football heading on youth and provides us with meaningful information about the safety of on-field heading,” said senior study author Kristy Arbogast, PhD, co-scientific director at CIRP and research director of the Minds Matter Concussion Program at CHOP. “We need to be clear that there may still be long-term consequences for repeated football playing over the course of an athletics career, but it appears that a small number of headers in a given session does not pose an immediate risk to well-trained young people. athletes.”

This study was supported by the National Institute of Neurologic Disorders and Stroke of the National Institutes of Health grant R01NS097549 and internal funds from CHOP.