LONDON – Headbanging in a metal concert may not seem trivial or innocuous as was revealed in a new study which was sparked by the case of a 50-year-old motorhead fan who had to undergo surgery to relieve brain injury after a metal concert. Bruises, cuts and bite marks are not the only injuries you can get at a heavy metal concert.
The condition is known as subdural hematoma. It essentially involves the collection of blood under the dura which is the outer protective membrane covering of the brain. It can develop over days or weeks.
Lead author Dr Ariyan Pirayesh Islamian said , “This case serves as evidence in support of Motorhead’s reputation as one of the most hardcore rock ‘n’ roll acts on earth, if nothing else because of their music’s contagious speed drive and the hazardous potential for headbanging fans to suffer brain injury,”.
The case of the 50 year old fan who came to the neurosurgical department of Hannover Medical School with worsening head ache and had to undergo brain surgery to relieve the pain was highlighted in the latest issue of medical journal The Lancet. The patient did not have any medical history which could be described as remarkable.
However when the doctors came to know that their patient was headbanging at a Motorhead concert 4 weeks before, they were able to understand the cause of the headaches. A cranial CAT scan revealed that he had chronic subdural haematoma on the right side of his brain.
Dr Islamian said “Even though there are only a few documented cases of subdural haematomas, the incidence may be higher because the symptoms of this type of brain injury are often clinically silent or cause only mild headache that resolves spontaneously.”
The Doctors removed the hematoma through a burr hole. Two months later the patient was fine and the headaches had subsided. Carotid artery dissection, mediastinal emphysema, odontoid neck fracture and whiplash have also been reported as a result of headbanging episodes.
Leave a Reply