Trusted neck injury prevention technique debunked

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Neck muscle resistance training is believed to reduce the occurrence and severity of head and neck injuries in athletes participating in sports such as soccer and football. But the results of a new study challenge this assumption.

In the study, 36 collegiate soccer players participated in an 8-week traditional head and neck resistance-training program to see if the training would reduce the player's head acceleration during impact.

Head impacts absorbed during soccer may cause head acceleration injuries, similar to what occurs during a car crash, Dr. Ryan T. Tierney, director of Temple University's Graduate Athletic Training Program explained. These impacts may cause impair mental functioning and, overtime, sometimes lead to permanent disability.

With neck muscle resistance training, "our soccer players increased in neck strength," Tierney told Reuters Health, but contrary to his expectations, "they did not reduce their head movement upon force application."

"This is important because the whole point of our training was to see if they in fact could increase their ability to stabilize their head using their neck muscles. That's important because that can help reduce risk of injury to the head or to the brain," the Philadelphia-based researcher said.

Every year, 1.4 million Americans suffer from a traumatic brain injury caused by a blow or jolt to the head and women appear to be more susceptible than men. It is widely held that resistance training can reduce these instances not only among athletes but also among car drivers and firearm users.

But Tierney is not ready to throw in the towel just yet. "This is really the first study of its kind," he said, "and there could many reasons for the results such as the fact that we used soccer players. Their neck muscles get training all the time from heading the soccer ball during games and practices so these are pretty high-end individuals in terms of neck muscle strength to start."

"It will be interesting to do a similar study using different populations of athletes," Tierney said. He presented results of his current study, which are published in the Journal of Athletic Training, at the Eastern Athletic Trainers' Association Annual Meeting in Philadelphia this month.

SOURCE: Journal of Athletic Training, December 2005.