Heading a football immediately alters brain functions, study shows

Even a brief session of heading a football immediately alters brain function and the way the brain communicates with the muscles around it, a new study has shown.

Participants who headed 20 footballs in succession did not improve their performance on a cognitive task with practice, whereas a control group who performed headers in virtual reality did.

The heading impacts, therefore, appeared to impair the ability to improve performance on this task, the study by academics at Manchester Metropolitan University’s Institute of Sport found.

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