Metal Hammer » Blog Archive » Headbanging is bad for your health Head-banging hammers the brain (ABC News in Science) Head-banging hammers the brain 
Researchers concluded that head-banging to a typical heavy metal tempo could cause mild traumatic brain injury or concussion
(Source: Monica Quesada/Rueters)
Led Zeppelin's immortal song 'Dazed and Confused' might well have been a clinical observation on the state of their audience's brains, say Australian researchers who have found over-enthusiastic head-banging can cause mild brain injury.
In a study published in the
British Medical Journal this week, two
University of New South Wales (UNSW) researchers concluded that head-banging to a typical heavy metal tempo could cause mild traumatic brain injury or concussion, and neck injury, particularly as the tempo of the music and angle of movement increased.
"Clearly it's a serious issue," says Associate Professor Andrew McIntosh, co-author and professor of biomechanics at UNSW.
"If you observe people after concerts they clearly look dazed, confused and incoherent, so something must be going on and we wanted to look into it."
Beats per minute
After careful observation of the behaviour of heavy metal concert-goers, McIntosh and honours student Declan Patton constructed a theoretical head-banging model to better understand the mechanics of the practice.
They also spoke to a focus group of local musicians to identify ten popular songs to head-bang to.
"These songs had an average tempo of 146 beats per minute, and at this tempo we predict that head banging can cause headaches and dizziness if the range of movement of the head and neck is greater than 75°," the researchers wrote.
Several songs were selected as controls against which to compare the risk of heavy metal head-banging, including Whitney Houston's 'I Will Always Love You'.
But McIntosh says attempts to find control cases of head-banging at alternative venues, such as Andre Rieu concerts, were unsuccessful.
Risky observations
Unfortunately for McIntosh, who confesses to not being a heavy metal fan, the research involved attending several heavy metal concerts of bands including Motley Crue, Ozzy Osbourne and Motorhead to identify the most popular head-banging techniques and better understand the biomechanics of the movement.
Despite being an observational study only, McIntosh says there were considerable occupational health and safety issues involved for researchers, including the risk of hearing damage, and the potential adverse outcomes of dealing with excited patrons who may have been "under the influence of things".
Professor McIntosh, whose research focuses on the biomechanics of head injury and concussion, says this type of temporary, mild brain injury was generally poorly understood, but was unlikely to lead to any more serious symptoms than headaches and dizziness.
), & this Prof was interviewed. the talk show host/listeners/me came to the conclusion that this is some kind of piss-take/april 1st joke type thing on December 19th), because the guy was giggling in places & even said he thinks that people should wear neck braces at concerts & in metal night clubs.
Linear Mode
