Is football heading linked to measurable decline in brain function?

New research links soccer heading — where players hit the ball with their head — to a measurable decline in the microstructure and function of the brain over a two-year period. High levels of heading were also associated with a decline in verbal learning performance. While previous research has examined adverse effects on the brain related to soccer heading at a single point in time, this new study looked at brain changes over two years. Two-year heading exposure was categorized as low, moderate or high. The players were assessed for verbal learning and memory and underwent diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), an MRI technique, at the time of enrolment and two years later. DTI characterizes the microstructure of the brain by tracking the microscopic movement of water molecules through the tissue. Compared to the baseline test results, the high-heading group (over 1,500 headers in two years) demonstrated an increase of diffusivity in frontal white matter regions, and a decrease of orientation dispersion index (a measure of brain organization) in certain brain regions after two years of heading exposure.