Heavy Metal Fans Who ‘Headbang’ are Likely to Develop Brain Injuries

Headbanging can cause head injuries and bleeding in the brain, warn doctors.

Headbanging or shaking the head wildly along with heavy metal and rock music was popularized by the band Led Zeppelin in 1969. The practice of headbanging puts the health of music lovers' at stake, say German health experts who recently found severe brain bleeding in a 50-year-old music enthusiast. The man, who reportedly headbanged at a rock concert, suffered chronic headaches and sought treatment at the Hannover Medical School, reports the BBC News.

His brain scans revealed a blood clot on the right side of the brain that was surgically removed. But the experts also noticed a cyst formation around the clot area that left the patient with a risk of brain hemorrhage in the future.

The neurosurgeons at the hospitals found this incident to be 'very unusual' especially when the patient did not have any history of brain injuries. The man reportedly did not take drugs and alcohol at the time of his hospitalization in January 2013.

"While such shows are enjoyable and stimulating for the audience, some fans might be endangered by indulging in excessive headbanging. We assume that headbanging, with its brisk forward and back acceleration and deceleration forces, led to rupturing of bridging veins causing hemorrhage into the subdural space," said Dr. Ariyan Pirayesh Islamian from Hannover Medical School in the study, reports the BBC News.

Continuous aggressive motion of the head by repeated headbanging changes the brain positioning by causing it to move. This can even result in hematoma.  Health officials warn people to be weary of recurrent headaches following a music concert.

Neurosurgeons recorded three other cases of subdural hematoma or bleeding in the brain associated with head banging. Fans of heavy metal music are likely to suffer carotid artery dissection or a tear in neck arteries, whiplash, neck fractures and spine injuries, which are mostly harmless.

More information is available online in the journal Lancet.