Finite Element Simulations of Brain Responses to Soccer-Heading Impacts

Abstract

Soccer is one of the world’s most popular sports, in which players must sometimes use their unprotected heads in offense or defense. In recent years, controversy surrounding the long-term effects of repeated impacts from heading has raised attention from the medical community. Previous works using numerical simulation studied the responses of the human brain during American football-related concussion. This study aims to estimate the response of the human brain to soccer-heading impacts using the finite element method. A validated full-body human model was used to analyze the impact simulation. The soccer ball flew with a translational velocity of 6 m/s or a rotational velocity of 30 rad/s. Players usually hit the ball with their foreheads or tops of heads while heading. Acceleration, Head Injury Criterion, principal strain, principal strain rate and shear stress of white matters in the brain are compared among different headings. The head motion during heading increases the acceleration of the brain during heading. The back spin of the ball increases its shear stress and strain rate during heading. When a moving player heads a ball with back spinning, the risk of mild traumatic brain injury may be high. This study shows that high strain and strain rate concentrate around the corpus callosum and shift from the impact site to the opposite direction. This observation is similar to those gathered from previous studies that simulated concussions sustained during American football.