1 . As the most popular sport in the world, soccer is played by people of all ages. The sport is enjoyed by 265million players, including both professional and amateur athletes. While soccer players are known for their skilled footwork, they also use their head. This technique is called heading.     1    Is heading in soccer dangerous? It’s a question that has met its fair share of controversy.

If you’ve never played soccer, heading may look pretty dangerous to the poor brain.     2    Yes, there is a technique for meeting a flying ball with your head.

Dr. Frank Webbe, a former soccer referee and coach, says there is good reason to believe that with proper technique, a player’s risk of brain injury is low. The problem is that in a fast-paced game of soccer obstacles sometimes prevent a player from heading with good technique.    3    

Webbe and his colleagues tested soccer players in neurocognitive performance such as attention, concentration, and speed of thinking. They compared long-time soccer players to new players, as well as medium-to-frequent headers to less than medium headers. In addition, they tested people who had played soccer recently as well as people who hadn’t played in some time.

    4    As a group, frequent headers performed lower on cognition tests in the week after a game of frequent heading than medium headers did. Also, players with the highest lifetime estimates of heading scored lowest overall on these cognition tests.

The results convince Webbe that heading does indeed pose a threat to brain function.    5    

However, it’s also possible to slowly develop symptoms after repeated smaller injuries.