It’s bad enough that loud music can potentially harm your hearing. But now it turns out that head-banging, a violent and rapid form of dancing, can put you at risk for brain injury, whiplash, and even stroke.
There have been isolated reports of head-banging injuries in the past: When guitarist Terry Balsamo of Evanescence had a stroke, his doctors attributed it to his on-stage thrashing. But until now, scientists really haven’t studied the effects of head-banging since it first started back in 1968 with Led Zeppelin.
According to Australian risk and safety researchers Declan Patton and Andrew McIntosh from the University of New South Wales in Sydney, head-banging is pretty much guaranteed to give you brain damage if you’re not careful. To test their theory, the researchers went to a variety of metal and hard rock concerts (the best way to test any scientific theory) and observed the head-thrashing techniques used by artists.
Then they created a “theoretical head-banging model” and plugged in various possible head angles and intensities. Using the top 11 “head-banging songs” chosen by a focus group, they measured an average tempo of 146 beats per minute, which they combined with head-banging arcs of more than 75 degrees from a person’s upright stance. They concluded that the typical death-metal tempo combined with a head-banging arc of at least 45 degrees will likely “cause mild head and neck injury.”
So is there hope for death-metal lovers? Yes, according to Patton and McIntosh, who offer the following advice:
“To minimize the risk of head and neck injury, head bangers should decrease their range of head and neck motion, head bang to slower tempo songs by replacing heavy metal with adult oriented rock, only head bang to every second beat, or use personal protective equipment.”
Image: flickr/Persian Catwoman
January 7th, 2009 at 10:36 am
[...] Head Banging May Hurt Your Brain [link] [...]
January 7th, 2009 at 10:44 am
This isn’t the first head-banging inquiry by the research team :
They previously investigated ‘ Headbanging as Resistance or Refuge: A Cathartic Account ‘ in 2007
Details here :
http://www.reallymagazine.com/month_archive_44.htm#24JUL07
January 7th, 2009 at 11:21 am
[...] via Discover News Article [...]
January 7th, 2009 at 11:36 am
Is discover magazine now working for the onion?
January 7th, 2009 at 11:37 am
[...] Read the story at Discover Magazine [...]
January 7th, 2009 at 11:38 am
Headbanging is NOT a dance. If you’re going to classify headbanging as a dance, you have to classify “clapping” as a dance too. Why don’t you do a study of how clapping is damaging the circulation in people’s hands? Idiots.
January 7th, 2009 at 11:52 am
what’s the piont of enjoying heavy metal, if you cant head-bang …….
January 7th, 2009 at 12:22 pm
Only about 20 year too late..
January 7th, 2009 at 12:36 pm
good head banging is homo
January 7th, 2009 at 12:59 pm
Ya we could replace heavy metal with adult oriented rock, except that adult oriented rock sucks. I’ll take the brain damage. Why live to think in a world that doesn’t think enough anyway?
January 7th, 2009 at 1:47 pm
id liek sum headbanging protective equipment plz
January 7th, 2009 at 2:11 pm
I wonder what the top 11 songs chosen were…
January 7th, 2009 at 2:51 pm
Even considering “adult-oriented rock” as an alternative to metal means that these “safety researchers” are already drain-bamamged. They must have been head-bangin’….
January 7th, 2009 at 3:15 pm
Hmm.. lets look at the definition:
dance
/dæns, dɑns/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [dans, dahns]
verb, danced, danc⋅ing, noun
–verb (used without object)
1. to move one’s feet or body, or both, rhythmically in a pattern of steps, esp. to the accompaniment of music.
2. to leap, skip, etc., as from excitement or emotion; move nimbly or quickly: to dance with joy.
3. to bob up and down: The toy sailboats danced on the pond.
With headbanging, you certainly move your body, move quickly, and bob up and down. I would say that headbanging fits into the definition of dance. Idiot.
January 7th, 2009 at 7:32 pm
[...] Health Hazard Alert: Head-Banging May Hurt Your Brain [...]
January 8th, 2009 at 7:04 pm
Well crap … no more head banging. Guess I’ll have to bang Ho’s instead !!!
January 8th, 2009 at 7:28 pm
“replacing heavy metal with adult oriented rock”
Did Scott Stap become a scientist? I bet Nickelback helped fund this study!
January 8th, 2009 at 8:29 pm
[...] http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/discoblog/2009/01/06/health-hazard-alert-head-banging-may-hurt-you... [...]
January 11th, 2009 at 10:09 pm
[...] link [...]
January 14th, 2009 at 10:04 am
Hey….what’s wrong with nickelback???? They are headbang worthy
…Anyway…maybe we should change this subject to mosh pits instead of head banging….my neck is usually sore for a couple days…but i always get all busted up in mosh pits (gotta love them though). Anyway…sometimes my brain needs a little vibration…it makes it feel better…there’s something to be said for not thinking TOO much.
January 20th, 2009 at 2:04 pm
[...] I also headbang, which may explain my behaviour, as it apparently causes brain damage. This is according to a study by Australian researchers at the University of New South Wales, quoted in this Discover magazine blog post [...]
February 2nd, 2009 at 5:18 pm
AND IF NICK VAUSE IS READING THIS YES ITS ME JORDAN FROM UR SCHOOL
February 2nd, 2009 at 5:33 pm
SRY ABOUT THE FACE IT DIDNT TURN OUT RIGHT
February 2nd, 2009 at 5:34 pm
AND IM A GUY JUST TO LET U ALL KNOW CAUSE JORDAN IS A BOY AND GIRL NAME
February 5th, 2009 at 11:35 am
heavy metal will never be replaced by adult orient rock!! only adults older than 35 would like that stuff
February 5th, 2009 at 11:36 am
and for all my readers out there i love u all and no im not gay!!!
February 5th, 2009 at 11:37 am
I G2G IM IN SCHOOL RIGHT NOW
February 15th, 2009 at 6:43 pm
I agree wit jk2tyme…whats the point of listenin to heavy metal music if you can headbang to it and enjoy yourself…I say SCREW YOU Ill take the brain damage!!! HEAVY METAL TILL I DIE!!!! I also agree wit jordan…Heavy Metal will NEVER EVER be replaced by adult orient rock….that shits for wussies!!! POWER TO THE HEADBANG!!!!
March 4th, 2009 at 10:00 am
[...] Head-banging: The myth that head-banging kills brain cells might not be completely true, but the rocker move is still hazardous to your health and "can put you at risk for brian injury, whiplash, and even stroke," according to Discover Magazine [...]
March 7th, 2009 at 12:58 pm
Thanks for this, enjoyed the read, I must improve my blog like yours.
March 27th, 2009 at 10:40 am
according to my researches headbanging is the best sport and best fun and it turn your brain on and it’s good very good !!!
June 4th, 2009 at 5:02 pm
[...] Related Content: Discoblog: Need to Perform Brain Surgery? Better Grab Your Black & Decker Discoblog: Health Hazard Alert: Head-Banging May Hurt Your Brain [...]
July 15th, 2009 at 5:15 pm
Looked all over E-bay for head-banging protective gear. Maybe because the people who studied this should be curing… Oh, I don’t know. AIDs? Cancer? Swine Flu? Fucking failures.
July 28th, 2009 at 4:02 pm
i wouldnt listen to metal i fi wanted to listen to adult oriented rock , oh and another thingim twelve i could have told you this assholes ur wasting ur time i agree with really? go try and do something useful like study aids or cancer
September 12th, 2009 at 2:13 pm
Head banging is to us like alcohol to a drunk. Death metal speaks to us like Christ to lunatics. Head banging is a way of escape of forgetting worries and sorrows. It makes us happy, if it hurts or not. Smoking is dangerous too, but do they discontinue tobacco? So, thanx for the concern, thanx for the info and please leave it at that.
September 29th, 2009 at 5:30 am
Man, is my neck killing me!! i indulge in extreme aggressive head-banging from time to time, and usually the pain persists for around 3-4 days. But this time i was seeing stars while headf-banging. Its been one week now, and still the pain does not subside. so i googled to see if it was something serious. i am none the wiser, but enjoyed raeding this blog!! keep on head-banging…
November 26th, 2009 at 3:12 pm
No s**t. Do these morons have nothing worth while to report on?
[Moderator's note: edited the cuss word.]
December 15th, 2009 at 1:54 am
lol, dude my neck is killing me too! I think that was my last extreme aggressive headbanging experience of my life…. well that’s what I say now;) But it feels so good in the moment- sad to think I can;t thrash my head around no more to a great band. this blog cracks me up- keep on rockin!!!
January 25th, 2010 at 4:36 pm
[...] unequivocally shows headbanging can cause whiplash, mild to moderate brain damage, and even strokes. But we’re metalheads. We spit in the face of research. We pinch the cheeks of science. We tickle [...]
January 25th, 2010 at 9:42 pm
headbangin is a part of metal, i cant listen to metal and not headbang, what the hell would we listen to adult oriented rock for, it sucks balls