The Effects of a Single Bout of Soccer Heading of Single and Dual-Task Tandem Gait in Collegiate Recreationally Active Individuals

Introduction: The understanding of subconcussive impacts is limited with few assessments to determine effects in a recreationally active population due to existing tests being static and unidimensional. Methods: This study investigated the effects of 10 soccer headers on pre and post-test measurements of patient reported outcome measures and single and dual-task tandem gait of 12 recreationally active college-aged participants. Results: No changes due to the heading session were observed; however, there was a detectable learning effect with participants walking faster and committing more gait errors but less cognitive errors. Conclusion: A bout of soccer heading may not pose an immediate risk to dynamic postural control and cognitive function.

SOCCER HEADING AND COGNITIVE PERFORMANCE IN PROFESSIONAL SOCCER PLAYERS: TWO-YEAR LONGITUDINAL DATA

Background: Soccer is the most popular sport worldwide, in which players purposely hit the ball with the head. Although researchers have focused on the effects of concussions in contact sports, the role of sub-concussive impacts (e.g., heading) has gained attention. Objective: To investigate the effects of soccer heading on cognitive functioning in active soccer players. Methods: Male professional soccer players (n=9), and non-athletes (n=25), matched by age and education, were submitted to computerized cognitive tests and to the Neupsilin. All subjects were tested on two occasions – T0 and T2 – separated by two years. Results: Intragroup analyses revealed that while controls improved their performance in 11 variables from T0 to T2, soccer players only improved in one test. However, controls had a worst performance in two variables. In T2, players performed better in the immediate memory test. Among players, no significant correlations were found between number of headings per game and cognition in T0 and T2. Conclusion: There was no evidence of cognitive impairment in soccer players in T0 and T2. They even outperformed controls in some tests. However, the improvement (probable learning effect) observed from T0 to T2 in controls was consistent over the players unvarying performance. Further investigations are needed to clarify relationships between soccer heading and cognition.