Is heading in soccer dangerous? It's aquestion that has met its fair share of controversy.

头球危险吗？这个问题引发了不少争议。

If you've never played soccer, heading maylook pretty dangerous to the poor brain. Where else in life do you not want toduck away from an object flying straight at your head? However, soccer playersknow that there is a proper way to head the ball.

如果你从未踢过足球，头球看起来对可怜的大脑的确杀伤力很大。如果，生活中的其它时候你看到飞来横物，你难道没有躲闪以求护头？然而，足球运动员是知道头球路数的。

Yes, there is a technique to meeting aflying ball with your head. Dr. Frank Webbe, is a former soccer referee andcoach who is also a psychologist specializing in sports psychology. He saysthere is good reason to believe that with proper technique, a player's risk forbrain injury is low.

当然，头球是需要技巧的。前有名足球裁判兼教练Frank Webbe在足球心理学上也有研究。他说有理由相信有技巧的头球可以降低大脑受伤的几率。

The problem is that in a fast-paced game ofsoccer, obstacles sometimes prevent a player from heading with good technique.And that's when problems are likely to arise.

可问题在于在踢球这个快节奏的运动中，球员头球的技巧可能会受限制。这也是问题的关键。

Webbe and collaborators tested soccerplayers in neurocognitive performance such as attention, concentration, andspeed of thinking.

Webbe和同事测试了足球运动员的神经认知，比如注意力、集中力、思维反应。

They compared long-time soccer players tonovices, as well as moderate-to-frequent headers to less than moderate headers.In addition, they tested people who had played soccer recently as well aspeople who hadn't played in some time.

他们比较了新老足球运动员,较常头球的球员和较少头球的球员，最近常常踢球的人和在一段时间内没有踢球的人。

The results suggested that more frequentheaders are at more risk for brain injury than less frequent headers. As agroup, frequent headers performed lower on cognition tests in the week after agame of frequent heading than did other subjects.

结果显示常常头球的人比较少头球的人损伤大脑的风险更高。前者总的来说，在长期头球后的一周内做的认知测试中普遍比后者表现得更差。

Also, players with the highest lifetimeestimates of heading scored lowest overall on these cognition tests. Theresults convince Webbe that heading does indeed pose a threat to brain functionand that more research needs to be done.

此外，球员估计在此生中头球最多的在认知测试中表现最差。测试结果足以说服Webbe头球确实有损大脑功能，需要更多研究加以验证。