Research links heading a football to CTE

Presenting the documentary was former England captain Alan Shearer, who visited former players and their families (among them Jeff Astle’s – whose death in 2002 was linked to CTE) to find out more about the disease and its links to the sport.

Integral in proving the link between CTE and repetitively heading a football was the research undertaken at the University of Stirling. The team there have identified small but significant changes in brain function immediately after routine heading practice.

Speaking to the BBC programme, Dr Angus Hunter, a neuromuscular physiologist at the university said: “We started getting reports of concerns around the effects of long term heading of a football. So, we decided to set up a laboratory controlled trial where we mimicked the effects of heading a ball in a training drill.”

Football players headed a ball 20 times, fired from a machine designed to simulate the pace and power of a corner kick. Before and after the heading sessions, scientists tested players’ brain function and memory. Increased inhibition in the brain was detected after just a single session of heading. Memory test performance was also reduced by between 41 and 67%, with effects normalising within 24 hours.

Cognitive neuroscientist Dr Magdalena Ietswaart from Psychology at the University of Stirling said: “In light of growing concern about the effects of contact sport on brain health, we wanted to see if our brain reacts instantly to heading a football. Using a drill most amateur and professional teams would be familiar with, we found there was in fact increased inhibition in the brain immediately after heading and that performance on memory tests was reduced significantly.

“Although the changes were temporary, we believe they are significant to brain health, particularly if they happen over and over again as they do in football heading. With large numbers of people around the world participating in this sport, it is important that they are aware of what is happening inside the brain and the lasting effect this may have.”

The documentary also highlighted the dramatic increase in weight when the old fashioned leather footballs used in Astle’s era got wet. The research team at the university soaked an old leather ball in water for two hours, during which time it increased in weight from 390g to 595g.
Several other high profile ex-players have been diagnosed with dementia including Ray Wilson, Nobby Stiles and Martin Peters - all members of England’s 1966 World Cup winning team.

The link between brain trauma and CTE was first identified in the US in retired NFL players. And, in an effort to reduce the number of concussions in football, the US Soccer Federation have even eliminated heading from youth football. Children aged ten and under are banned from heading the ball in any official session – that includes matches and practice.

Speaking in the documentary Shearer commented: “The custodians of the game need to embrace and fund science to understand the effects of heading. The researchers are out there but they need funding, but more importantly they need the raw materials to conduct this research – brains.

“Let science do its work. Technologies are emerging that provide us with evidence so that we can make educated decisions about how we take our game forward. It’s a tough game, it’s a brilliant game, and it’s known as our beautiful game. But let’s make sure it’s not a killer game.”