Age of First Exposure to Soccer Heading and Sensory Reweighting for Upright Stance

Abstract

US Soccer eliminated soccer heading for youth players ages 10 years and younger and limited soccer heading for children ages 11–13 years. Limited empirical evidence associates soccer heading during early adolescence with medium-to-long-term behavioral deficits. The purpose of this study was to compare sensory reweighting for upright stance between college-aged soccer players who began soccer heading ages 10 years and younger (AFE ≤ 10) and those who began soccer heading after age 10 (AFE > 10). Thirty soccer players self-reported age of first exposure (AFE) to soccer heading. Sensory reweighting was compared between AFE ≤ 10 and AFE > 10. To evaluate sensory reweighting, we simultaneously perturbed upright stance with visual, vestibular, and proprioceptive stimulation. The visual stimulus was presented at two different amplitudes to measure the change in gain to vision, an intra-modal effect; and change in gain to galvanic vestibular stimulus (GVS) and vibration, both inter-modal effects. There were no differences in gain to vision (p=0.857, η2=0.001), GVS (p=0.971, η2=0.000), or vibration (p=0.974, η2=0.000) between groups. There were no differences in sensory reweighting for upright stance between AFE ≤ 10 and AFE > 10, suggesting that soccer heading during early adolescence is not associated with balance deficits in college-aged soccer players, notwithstanding potential deficits in other markers of neurological function

Age of First Exposure to Football Is Not Associated With Later-in-Life Cognitive or Mental Health Problems

“…Four ( 9 – 11 , 20 ) of the nine studies reported no association between age of first exposure to football and later-in-life brain health problems. Moreover, in all studies of current high school and collegiate athletes, earlier age of first exposure to contact and collision sports has not been associated with worse neurocognitive functioning, subjectively-experienced symptoms, or postural control during preseason baseline testing ( 12 – 16 , 18 , 19 ), or worse clinical outcome following concussion ( 17 ). Considering the literature more broadly, separate from the issue of age of first exposure to football, results from 7 studies ( 33 – 38 ) 2 have observed that men who played high school football are not at increased risk for later-in-life neurodegenerative disease ( 36 , 37 ), and they do not report greater mental health problems in their 20s ( 33 , 34 ), during middle age 2 , or during older adulthood ( 35 , 38 ).…”

“…With time, other research groups have independently conducted 11 studies using diverse samples and methodologies, with none observing an association between earlier age of first exposure to football (or other contact and collision sports) and worse clinical or brain imaging outcomes (9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19). In current high school and collegiate athletes, age of first exposure was not associated with objectively measured neurocognitive functioning, subjectively-experienced symptoms, or postural control across seven highly-powered, observational studies (12-16, 18, 19).…”

Age of First Exposure to Contact and Collision Sports and Later in Life Brain Health: A Narrative Review

“…There have been eight published studies on this topic with current high school and collegiate athletes, which inform possible short- to medium-term associations in current athletes. No published studies of current athletes have reported a statistically significant association between playing football (or other contact sports) before the age of 12 and worse functioning ( 84 , 87 , 88 , 90 , 111 , 123 , 124 ), or worse clinical outcome from concussion ( 89 ). These large-scale cross-sectional studies of high school and collegiate athletes have found that earlier AFE to football and other contact sports is not significantly associated with worse objectively measured cognitive functioning ( 84 , 87 , 88 , 90 , 123 ) or greater self-reported physical, cognitive, or emotional symptoms ( 84 , 88 ).…”

“…It will be important to observe whether the findings of prior studies are replicated by future research investigating this association. The best available evidence to date suggests that earlier AFE to contact or collision sports is not associated with worse cognitive functioning or mental health in (i) current high school athletes, (ii) current collegiate athletes ( 84 , 87 , 88 , 90 , 111 , 123 , 124 ), or (iii) middle-aged men who played high school football ( 85 , 86 ).…”

Age of first exposure to soccer heading: Associations with cognitive, clinical, and imaging outcomes in the Einstein Soccer Study

“…In 2015, US Soccer adopted a ban on soccer heading for players aged 10 years old and younger ( 20 ), despite a lack of evidence that initiating heading before age 10 led to poorer outcomes. Caccese et al, used age 10 to retrospectively dichotomize a group of collegiate soccer players into those who began heading the soccer ball at age 10 or younger and those who began heading after age 10 ( 21 ). Caccese et al found no difference in sensory reweighting for upright stance, a marker of sensory reliance for vestibular function, between the soccer players who began heading before or after age 10.…”