“New soccer studies show short and long-term consequences of common practice”.EurekAlert!

It doesn’t take a brain surgeon to recognize that frequent heading might be dangerous to neurocognitive function. I don’t let my soccer-playing kids head the ball and have generally found their coaches sympathetic to not encouraging the practice. However, it is hard for soccer traditionalists to let go of. This should not be surprising; after all, there is a constituency for prizefighting despite the neurological violence that does, even with the prominent case of Muhammed Ali’s Parkinsonism (which has likely been induced by the blows he took to his head over his career) and the well-known condition called dementia pugilistica.