Palma Giovanni Batista, Lima Mariana Drummond Martins, Rodrigues Ana Carolina Oliveira, Friedlaender Clarisse Vasconcelos, Azevedo Filho Celso Furtado de, Lasmar Rodrigo Campos Pace, Caramelli Paulo
Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Faculdade de Medicina, Grupo de Pesquisa em Neurologia Cognitiva e do Comportamento, Belo Horizonte MG, Brazil.
Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Faculdade de Medicina, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências Aplicadas à Saúde do Adulto, Belo Horizonte MG, Brazil.
Arq Neuropsiquiatr. 2025 Feb;83(2):1-7. doi: 10.1055/s-0045-1805051. Epub 2025 Mar 19.
Soccer is the most popular sport worldwide, and the only one in which players purposely and repetitively use their head to hit the ball. In recent years, more attention has been given to subconcussive impacts, which are characterized by a cranial impact that does not result in known or diagnosed concussion on clinical grounds.
To investigate the effects of soccer heading on cognitive functioning among professional soccer players.
In a longitudinal case-control study, 22 professional soccer players were compared with 37 non-athletes on 2 occasions (T0 and T1) separated by a 1-year interval. The cognitive assessment consisted of computerized neuropsychological tests and the Brief Neuropsychological Assessment Battery (NEUPSILIN).
There was no evidence of cognitive impairment among athletes, who actually outperformed the controls in terms of score, accuracy, and reaction time in certain tests. Moreover, the estimates of heading exposure did not correlate with the cognitive performance of players. The intragroup analyses revealed that while the controls improved their performance on three cognitive variables from T0 to T1, no improvement occurred among players. However, within-group variation in performance from T0 to T1 was similar.
Although the present study has not shown an association between soccer heading and cognitive impairment, subconcussive impacts may have a negative effect on brain function, as improvement in cognitive performance was not observed among athletes. Future and longer longitudinal investigations are needed to clarify the relationship between soccer heading and cognition.
足球是全球最受欢迎的运动，也是唯一一项运动员有意且反复用头部击球的运动。近年来，人们对次脑震荡冲击给予了更多关注，其特征是颅骨撞击在临床上未导致已知或诊断出的脑震荡。
研究用头顶球对职业足球运动员认知功能的影响。
在一项纵向病例对照研究中，22名职业足球运动员与37名非运动员在两个时间点（T0和T1）进行比较，间隔为1年。认知评估包括计算机化神经心理学测试和简易神经心理学评估量表（NEUPSILIN）。
没有证据表明运动员存在认知障碍，在某些测试中，运动员在得分、准确性和反应时间方面实际上优于对照组。此外，头球接触次数的估计值与球员的认知表现无关。组内分析显示，虽然对照组从T0到T1在三个认知变量上的表现有所改善，但球员中没有出现改善。然而，从T0到T1，组内表现的变化相似。
尽管本研究未显示用头顶球与认知障碍之间存在关联，但次脑震荡冲击可能对脑功能有负面影响，因为在运动员中未观察到认知表现的改善。需要未来进行更长时间的纵向研究来阐明用头顶球与认知之间的关系。
