“Soccer players are repeatedly hitting their head [or, using the top of their head to redirect the ball], and we know that multiple head injuries tend to be worse than just one,” Lipton stated. “My area [of expertise] is mild traumatic brain injury, so I look at how much does it take (to have a lasting effect).”

To study those cumulative effects, Lipton asked 37 amateur soccer players, nearly three-quarters of whom were male, to approximate how often he or she headed a ball per year, so he could group them into three categories: low heading, medium heading, and high heading. He then scanned their brains with a special MRI test called diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and tested the players’ memory skills.

Bearing in mind that participants’ age averaged 31 and that they’d played soccer for an average of 22 years and for about 10 months in the last year, Lipton determined that players who headed a ball about or more than 1,800 times per year scored lower on memory tests.

Why?

“Overall, the imaging showed that players who reported heading the ball more frequently had areas of the brain with lower FA [fractional anisotropy] values,” Fox News reported. Or, as Lipton stated, “The more heading people did, the more likely they were to have abnormalities of brain microstructure and worse cognitive performance.”

Given the small scale of this study, Lipton isn’t yet urging soccer moms to buy helmets for their children, but that may come. The National Institutes of Health has awarded him a $3 million grant to continue his research.

“I think that what people should take away from this at this point is that there may be risk involved in heading; that’s about all we can say … The biggest message here is we need to do the research and confirm what the risks are, and if they’re confirmed, develop ways to address them,” he said.

Below, Cleveland traumatic brain injury attorney Chris Mellino enumerates TBI symptoms and discusses the difference between a head injury and a brain injury.

According to the Columbus Dispatch, Dr. Michael Lipton, associate director of the Gruss Magnetic Resonance Research Center at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, will conduct MRIs as 50 participants perform tasks involving short-term memory, inattention, and impulsiveness.

Those participants include 25 Ohio veterans with traumatic brain injuries and one brother or other close male relative each, so the doctor can compare a damaged brain to a healthy brain and rule out factors such as genetics and upbringing.

Traumatic brain injuries occur when the brain is jarred or shaken inside the skull, such as in a car or truck accident. Army veteran Ryan Gleich “suffered his most significant brain injury in 2003 outside Baghdad when a roadside bomb lifted the tail end of his Humvee from the road and tossed him across the vehicle,” the Dispatch reported.

Almost immediately, Gleich became antisocial, “ultra-aggressive,” and forgetful, which led to his divorce. Six years later, the 33-year-old has remarried and found help from support groups, but he still finds it difficult to motivate himself to leave the house, he said.

“Chase Russell was injured in multiple close-range explosions in 2010 and 2011 in Afghanistan,” per the Dispatch. “The worst was in September 2011, when a suicide bomber blew up his base.”

Like Gleich, the 25-year-old veteran has shut himself off from friends. He also has a hard time keeping a job and lacks the focus to go to college. “Nothing is really the same as it used to be,” he said.

Below, Cleveland brain injury attorney Chris Mellino discusses the difference between a head injury and a brain injury, common causes of a brain injury, and symptoms of a traumatic brain injury.