The Lancet demonstrates the link between hard rock and brain injury

The Lancet demonstrates the link between hard rock and brain injury.

It starts in January 2013 A previously healthy man in his 50s seeking treatment for headache and end up in the department of neurosurgery at the Medizinische Hochschule Hannover, Germany. In two weeks time the man has been a persistent and increasing pain in the head. He has not hit his head and denies abuse. However, he states that he has been head banging, that is thrown headfirst into step with the music, in a concert by the British band Motörhead four weeks earlier.


Besides singer Lemmy Kilmisters characteristic facial warts, the band for almost 40 years has been known for its fast playing style. And when neurosurgeons in Hanover after a CT scan finds a bleeding, called a subdural hematoma, in the man's brain put the two and two together: Headbang making to the fast music and the forces that arise have probably led to the blood vessels in the man's brain ruptured and caused subduralhematomet. The man undergo surgery and become symptom-free, the German neurosurgeons summarizes his theory in a case study.

The study also noted that the man had a cyst in a vessel in the brain, which, according to doctors, must be seen as a sign of increased risk of bleeding. It also shows that three cases of headbang-induced subdural hematoma previously described in the literature. Finally, the doctors that the case should also be seen as a testament to Motörhead's reputation as one of the hardest rock acts on the planet, if only because their catching fast driving and the risk that their headbanging fans running incurring a brain injury.

Footnote. The risk of brain and neck injury associated with head banging has previously been described in an article in the 2008 julutgåva of the medical journal British Medical Journal. The article is partly based on observational studies of concerts with Motorhead.

Jens Krey
jens.krey@dagensmedicin.se