Daily Mail · Oct 22, 2016
Heading a ball 'damages the brain' new study expected to show
A potentially explosive study is expected to reignite the safety debate around heading footballs after finding evidence that players' brains appear to be damaged by repeated impacts.
The study, undertaken by researchers at Stirling University and set to be published on Sunday, is expected to claim changes to brain function can be caused by the everyday head impacts — also referred to as sub-concussive blows — associated with heading footballs.
The research team, led by cognitive neuroscientist Dr Magdalena Ietswaart, monitored a group of 19 players undertaking routine heading drills under laboratory conditions, before monitoring how they performed in memory tests.