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 However, one software company feels it has a solution to the
damaging impact it can have - virtual reality.
Two more former players announced their dementia diagnosis this
week, while five of England's 1966 World Cup-winning team - Ray
Wilson, Martin Peters, Nobby Stiles, Bobby Charlton and Jack
Charlton - have all suffered with the degenerative disease.
"What else can it be?" was former Manchester United and Scotland
great Dennis Law's response when asked what he thought had caused
his diagnosis.
"You were heading the ball, which was quite heavy in those days, but
you didn’t think about it."
A group of former players including Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer
released a joint statement this week demanding that soccer's
governing bodies urgently deliver a new strategy to tackle the
sport's dementia crisis, which the "terrified" group labelled a
"ticking time bomb".
Concussion substitutes were trialled last year, children aged 11 and
under are no longer taught to head footballs and limitations on
heading in training have been enforced across the English
professional game.
These measures, however, do not go far enough, according to the
group. A real, lasting preventative approach could come via an
entirely different world altogether - virtual reality.
"We've got everything in there from reaction time training to
hand-eye coordination drills. But, most importantly, we're working
on heading," Andy Etches, co-founder of Rezzil, a Manchester-based
software company that has been working with top Premier League clubs
to enhance training through virtual reality, told Reuters.
"It wasn't intentional for this (heading software) to come out at
this time. We've been working on this for a long time and it makes
sense for us to deliver this kind of platform now."
BRAVE NEW WORLD
Reuters was given a tour of this brave new world. By putting on a
headset, you are transported into what appears to be a
state-of-the-art training facility, created with astonishing
attention to detail.
You can then select from a wide variety of professional level
training drills, all of which are evaluated to measure your
improvement.
Rezzil's latest creation, Player 22, focuses on heading drills,
where the lasting benefits are twofold.
"We're going to reduce the amount of times you make contact with a
physical ball," Etches added.
"But we've got some drills that were designed by top coaches, used
by top teams, to help you head the ball safely, not with the neck,
not with the top of your head, to head from your waist in the same
way that an elite player will do."
But how realistic is it? Can it replace the real thing?
"Once you put on a headset, you are in a training ground
environment," Rhys Carr, a UEFA licensed coach who has worked with
English second-tier sides Sheffield United, Bristol City and Cardiff
City recently, told Reuters.
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 "In terms of timing and
trajectory, it has everything other than the
contact element with heading. In terms of the
feel you get for the football, how your eyes
look at the part of the goal you want it to go
into as you make that contact, that's accurate."
GLOBAL PROBLEM
Problems with long-term brain injury are not confined to soccer.
Former England rugby hooker Steve Thompson revealed his diagnosis of
early onset dementia last year, saying he no longer remembers
winning the 2003 World Cup, while numerous studies have revealed how
susceptible National Football League (NFL) players are to brain
injuries due to repeated blows to the head.
Soccer is realising the extent of its problem.
"Research has been taking place since the early 2000s, John Mulcahy,
director of Sport Science Agency, a UK agency dedicated to
delivering sports science activities, told Reuters.
"It started in the NFL, rugby, and now we are seeing a lot of
attention on football. Player welfare must be put at the forefront
and that is being taking more seriously, because of this research.
"The research has to come first. Then from the research, and the
stuff that comes out of working with companies like Rezzil,
governing bodies can start to implement mitigation strategies."
Research published by Glasgow university this month revealed that
former footballers are 3.5 times more likely to die with dementia
than the general public.
With measures to try to reduce the impact of heading only recently
implemented, it is unknown what effect they will have. Nonetheless,
Rezzil plan to play a big part in soccer's attempts to combat the
issue.
"We are looking at how heading affects connectivity in your brain -
it seems to slow brain activity," Greg Wood, senior lecturer in
Motor Control at Manchester Metropolitan University, who are working
with Rezzil to develop the technology, told Reuters.
"We can then see how effective heading in virtual reality is in
comparison and whether it is more effective is preserving normal
activity and connectivity.
"We found that doing some heading movements in VR is up to five
times less of an impact than heading an actual ball, so it has less
impact on the head and on brain function.
"If we can train somebody in virtual reality to head the ball more
effectively, without having the impact, it could have significant
positive benefits."
(Reporting by Peter Hall; Editing by Ken Ferris)
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