Avaliação neuropsicológica do impacto de concussões por cabeceamento em jogadores de futebol

: revisão teórica

Abstract

Football is unmistakably the most popular sport in the world. However, it is alsoa sport that often involves a high exposure to heading the ball, with a potential risk ofcerebral concussion. Because it is the only sport in which the ball is intentionally headed,players are subject to numerous impacts on the head throughout their careers, which maylead to changes in the short and long term in both structure and cognitive function. In thiscontext, the present literary review aims to identify studies on structural and/or cognitivechanges associated with heading in football. A search of articles (1980 – November 2020)was carried out through international databases. (Science Direct®, Pubmed®, Web ofScience®, Scielo®, Lilacs®, using keywords related to heading, cerebral concussion andcognitive changes in football players. Of the 11 studies selected, there is evidence of anassociation between the act of heading and structural changes to the brain. With regard tocognitive function, there are studies that suggest that the impact of heading the ballcontinuously may be the cause of certain deficits, while others have not confirmed thepresence of changes. Although currently the scientific community attaches clinicalimportance to the impact of heading the ball, more research is needed, in particular,longitudinal studies to clarify the cognitive effects in the short and long term in footballplayers.

Date of Award	16 Mar 2021
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Filipa Ribeiro (Supervisor)