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18/12/2008
Top Docs Issue Festive Head Banging Warning
Look out festive rockers, doctors say that head banging increases the risk of head and neck injury. However, those who go for mellower music can see the effects lessened.
Top docs said this week that with reduced head and neck motion, and head banging to lower tempo songs or to do it only to every second beat, the possible ill effects of full-on musical appreciation would be greatly reduced.
They have also said that using 'protective equipment' such as neck braces would help too, although these are hardly likely to be a fashion accessory for heavy metal fans.
The conclusions came as part of a study in the Christmas issue of the erudite British Medical Journal, and published on bmj.com today.
They report that at higher tempos and greater ranges of motion there is an additional risk of neck injury.
However, there are a number of possible ways other than neck braces to protect against these injuries, write the authors the BMJ.
These include calling for bands such as AC/DC to play songs such as 'Moon River' instead of 'Highway to Hell', public awareness campaigns and the labelling of music packaging with anti-head banging warnings.
The authors said that what began in 1968 at a Led Zeppelin concert with fans banging their heads on the stage has developed into a collection of distinctive styles including the up-down, the circular swing, the full body and the side-to-side.
Anecdotal reports of head banging induced injury include hearing loss, stroke and mild traumatic brain injury, but there has been little formal research into head banging.
Declan Patton and Professor Andrew McIntosh from the University of New South Wales, analysed the injury risk from head banging and examined possible ways to protect against these injuries.
The researchers attended hard rock and heavy metal concerts including Motörhead, Ozzy Osbourne and Skid Row, and identified that the up-down style was the most common head banging technique.
They constructed a theoretical head-banging model of this popular style to examine the effect the range of head and neck motion has on injury severity.
A focus group of 10 musicians was used to calculate the average tempo of their favourite head banging songs.
The authors found that there is an increasing risk of neck injury beginning at tempos of 130 beats per minute related to the range of motion in the head banging style.
The average head banging song has a tempo of about 146 beats per minute.
The authors suggest that at this tempo head banging may cause headaches and dizziness if the range of movement of the head and neck is more than 75º.
(BMcC)
Top docs said this week that with reduced head and neck motion, and head banging to lower tempo songs or to do it only to every second beat, the possible ill effects of full-on musical appreciation would be greatly reduced.
They have also said that using 'protective equipment' such as neck braces would help too, although these are hardly likely to be a fashion accessory for heavy metal fans.
The conclusions came as part of a study in the Christmas issue of the erudite British Medical Journal, and published on bmj.com today.
They report that at higher tempos and greater ranges of motion there is an additional risk of neck injury.
However, there are a number of possible ways other than neck braces to protect against these injuries, write the authors the BMJ.
These include calling for bands such as AC/DC to play songs such as 'Moon River' instead of 'Highway to Hell', public awareness campaigns and the labelling of music packaging with anti-head banging warnings.
The authors said that what began in 1968 at a Led Zeppelin concert with fans banging their heads on the stage has developed into a collection of distinctive styles including the up-down, the circular swing, the full body and the side-to-side.
Anecdotal reports of head banging induced injury include hearing loss, stroke and mild traumatic brain injury, but there has been little formal research into head banging.
Declan Patton and Professor Andrew McIntosh from the University of New South Wales, analysed the injury risk from head banging and examined possible ways to protect against these injuries.
The researchers attended hard rock and heavy metal concerts including Motörhead, Ozzy Osbourne and Skid Row, and identified that the up-down style was the most common head banging technique.
They constructed a theoretical head-banging model of this popular style to examine the effect the range of head and neck motion has on injury severity.
A focus group of 10 musicians was used to calculate the average tempo of their favourite head banging songs.
The authors found that there is an increasing risk of neck injury beginning at tempos of 130 beats per minute related to the range of motion in the head banging style.
The average head banging song has a tempo of about 146 beats per minute.
The authors suggest that at this tempo head banging may cause headaches and dizziness if the range of movement of the head and neck is more than 75º.
(BMcC)
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