Immediate effects of an acute bout of repeated soccer heading on cognitive performance

Ashton, Jake and Coyles, Ginny and Malone, James J. and Roberts, James W. (2020) Immediate effects of an acute bout of repeated soccer heading on cognitive performance. Science and Medicine in Football. ISSN 2473-3938

Text Immediate Effects of Heading_JA,GC,JM,JR, 2020_Authors' Accepted Manuscript.docx - Accepted Version Download (50kB)

Abstract

Purpose: There has been a growing concern surrounding the harmful effects of soccer heading on cognitive function. The present study aims to examine the immediate effects of heading.
Methods: 30 recreational male soccer players were divided into three groups that undertook 20 consecutive headers with a soft (8.8 psi), hard (16.2 psi), or no (control) ball. All groups completed a battery of neuropsychological tests before and after the heading intervention: King-Devick, trail-making (TM) (A and B), digit span (DS) and spatial span (SS) (forward and backward).
Results: Significant increase in the time (M = 4.44 s) and errors (M = 1.45) for the King-Devick test within the hard and soft groups, although there was no significant difference for TM-A and TM-B. Significant decline for SS forward within the hard and soft groups (M = -16%), although the declines for SS backward (M = -16%), DS forward (M = -23%) and DS backward (M = -25%) were present only for the hard group (ps < .05).
Discussion: While outside of regular match-play, this study showed that heading negatively influenced participants in terms of one of the indicators of a suspected concussion (King-Devick), as well as working memory (DS, SS) that is essential for daily life. These findings contribute to the growing research on heading with a view to informing safety guidelines and regulation.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information and Comments:	This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Science and Medicine in Football on 3 November 2020, available online: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/24733938.2020.1846769
Faculty / Department:	Faculty of Human and Digital Sciences > School of Health and Sport Sciences
Depositing User:	James Malone
Date Deposited:	12 Nov 2020 12:08
Last Modified:	12 Nov 2020 12:08
URI:	https://hira.hope.ac.uk/id/eprint/3174

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