{"id":74281,"date":"2026-04-21T03:42:25","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T03:42:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/footballs-could-be-designed-to-reduce-impact-of-heading-scientists\/"},"modified":"2026-04-21T03:42:28","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T03:42:28","slug":"footballs-could-be-designed-to-reduce-impact-of-heading-scientists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/footballs-could-be-designed-to-reduce-impact-of-heading-scientists\/","title":{"rendered":"Footballs could be designed to reduce impact of heading &#8211; scientists"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;There are examples of balls that transfer high or low energy through all eras of play&#8221; said Andy Harland, a professor of sports technology at Loughborough. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;There is no trend that suggests the magnitude of energy transfer is increasing or decreasing over time.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;Our evidence suggests that high energy pressure wave transfer was not limited to leather balls, so, if this energy is associated with neurodegenerative disease, it is not a problem that has gone away with modern balls.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">This comes with football under mounting pressure to take more action on brain injuries, and renewed scrutiny on the relationship between heading and neurodegenerative illnesses.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">In January, a senior coroner <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/sport\/football\/articles\/c0er74njxgro\" class=\"ssrcss-18834jl-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\">declared<\/a> that repeatedly heading footballs is &#8220;likely&#8221; to have contributed to the brain disease which was a factor in the death of former Leeds United and Manchester United defender Gordon McQueen.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">McQueen, who was diagnosed with vascular dementia and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), which is caused by repeated head impacts, died in 2023 aged 70.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Former England striker Jeff Astle, who died following years of neurological symptoms, is considered the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/uk-england-birmingham-27654892\" class=\"ssrcss-18834jl-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\">first footballer whose death was shown to have been impacted by heading footballs.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;These findings provide opportunities to work towards ball designs and testing specifications that minimise energy transfer into the brain&#8221;, added Phillips. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;We&#8217;re hoping that this discovery provides some valuable information that could look more specifically at the potential causes of the disease that we&#8217;re seeing in retired players.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;At the moment, we see correlations and statistical observations about them and their careers in the game.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;As yet, it&#8217;s unexplained as to what exactly it is about the collision with a football in a header that is causing damage to the brain, and it may well be many years until we can reach that point. But I think this discovery allows us to focus specifically on something which we&#8217;ve never measured before.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;Most excitingly, it gives us the opportunity to make changes to the ball. This energy transfer that we&#8217;ve measured is separate from the big picture of the ball hitting the head and the player&#8217;s head recoiling. It is over at the very beginning of the collision and represents a very discreet pulse of energy that passes into the brain.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">In 2019 the &#8216;Field&#8217; study, funded by the FA and the Professional Footballers&#8217; Association, found that footballers were 3.5 times more likely to suffer from neurodegenerative disorders. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Since then, the FA has brought in a phased ban of heading in under-11s football and says it is investing in objective and robust research to get a better understanding of the issue. It has also issued guidelines to clubs on limiting high force headers in training, such as from balls which come at speed from free-kicks and corners.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The Scottish FA has gone further, banning heading the day before and after matches in the professional adult game.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">FA Chief Medical Officer, Charlotte Cowie, said, &#8220;This new independent research provides us with innovative and previously undiscovered insight, and it is part of our ongoing commitment to gain a greater understanding of this highly complex area. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;The results of the study have also been shared with Fifa and Uefa, and we continue to welcome a global approach to support further research in this important area.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/sport\/football\/articles\/c4g43yd416xo?at_medium=RSS&#038;at_campaign=rss\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;There are examples of balls that transfer high or low energy through all eras of play&#8221; said Andy Harland, a professor of sports technology at Loughborough. &#8220;There is no trend that suggests the magnitude of energy transfer is increasing or decreasing over time. &#8220;Our evidence suggests that high energy pressure wave transfer was not limited [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":74282,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[64],"tags":[2767,20238,5015,2563,6583,1924],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74281"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74281"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74281\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":74283,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74281\/revisions\/74283"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}