Medical expert: West Ham stars may be at enhanced risk of brain injury after report reveals all
Teams such as West Ham that play a more-than-average number of long balls are potentially at greater risk of exposing players to brain injury.
That is the view of medical expert Ben Dinnery, who runs the Premier Injuries site and has a background in injury and data analysis.
A study from the scientific journal Brain Injury published on 18 February found that repeated heading can alter the blood structure of the brain.
The FA has recommended limits for heading in professional and amateur training, with a distinction made between high and low-force headers.
Wolves (1587) are the only team in the top half to have played more long balls this season than West Ham (1489), per the Premier League’s stats hub.
And Dinnery explains why the Hammers’ proclivity to go long could be inadvertently putting their players at greater risk.
“The difficulty is that not all headers are equal,” he told Football Insider‘s Adam Williams.
“A large number of headers, in terms of the forces they exert on the brain, are comparable to merely going for a run.
“What they advise at the moment is limiting exposure to high-impact headers, those that generate the most force.
“Typically, they are headers from corners or long-field balls. Passes where the ball travels 35 to 45 metres tend to generate the most force.
“We’re also talking about different positions. Defenders head the most and it’s those headers that have the most force in terms of Newtons generated.
“The difficulty is that we don’t have a lot of info on heading activity in terms of understanding the forces of headers compared to volume of headers.
“These initial studies offer great a platform, but they also tell us that we need significantly more research in this area.
“There are so many variables that need to be considered, from the location of contact and the design of the ball to gender.”
David Moyes’ side are currently 5th in the Premier League, two points outside the top four.
They travel to Southampton on Wednesday (2 March).
In other news, Kieran Maguire issues verdict on West Ham hosting Champions League final.