Football headballs demonstrably harm female players more than men

Brain injuries: Headballs hurt women more than men

According to a new study, football headers are far more dangerous for women than men. The areas of damaged brain tissue are thus five times more extensive in the female athletes than in the male ones.

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Dangerous head injuries

Head injuries in football or other "contact sports" are relatively common. Especially head balls are dangerous, they can harm the brain. And that of women much stronger than that of men, as US scientists have now found out.

Headballs are much more dangerous for women than for men. The US researchers have now found out. (Image: Joe / fotolia.com)

30 million kicking women and girls

According to FIFA, the international football governing body, around 30 million women and girls around the world play football. For them, a header is much more dangerous than for male football players.

This was the result of a study by researchers led by Michael Lipton of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. The study published in the journal "Radiology" showed that brain damage caused by head balls is five times stronger in women than in men.

According to a statement, the findings suggested that gender-specific policies could be justified to prevent football-related head injuries.

Women are worse off after head injuries

"Researchers and clinicians have long known that women are worse off after a head injury than men," said study author Michael Lipton.

"But some said that was only because women are more willing to report symptoms," says the radiologist.

"Based on our study, which measured objective changes in brain tissue rather than self-reported symptoms, women seem more likely than men to experience head trauma brain injury."

Special MRI procedure

To reach their conclusions, the researchers examined 49 male and female amateur footballers between the ages of 18 and 50, who had scored roughly the same number of headbands in the 12 months leading up to the investigation.

A special form of MRI, the so-called "diffusion tensor imaging" (DTI) was used.

The scientists found that the volume of damaged white matter in female soccer players was five times greater than that of male players.

In addition, it was found that eight brain regions were affected in women, only three in men.

"The findings complement the growing body of evidence that men and women develop different biological responses to brain trauma," said lead author Todd G. Rubin.

Headballs can not be forbidden

Why women are more sensitive to head injuries than men is not clear. The researchers suspect that, among other things, the differences in the neck muscles could play a role.

According to the study authors, although the damage found in the study was small, it is still cause for concern.

Because in some cases, they could lead to further brain damage and serious malfunction result.

Should football players therefore stop with the headballs? "We've done several studies that show that most players can take a certain amount of headballs," Dr. Lipton.

"Instead of banning headballs altogether - which is unlikely to be realistic - we'd rather find out how many headballs put players in trouble. What is important about this study is that men and women may need to be looked at differently. "(Ad)