Traumatic brain injuries are not exclusive to football players and fighters

 Research presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) concluded that ‘heading’ a soccer ball could lead to traumatic brain injury. In soccer terminology ‘heading’ is when a soccer player fields the ball with his head. This technique is essential to the game. And is the focal point of many practice drills.  Like football these injuries appear to be cumulative, yet they are caused by a much lesser force. "Heading a soccer ball is not an impact of a magnitude that will lacerate nerve fibers in the brain," said Michael L. Lipton, M.D., Ph.D., associate director of the Gruss Magnetic Resonance Research Center at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and medical director of MRI services at Montefiore Medical Center in New York. "But repetitive heading could set off a cascade of responses that can lead to degeneration of brain cells."

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The study was conducted using 32 amateur soccer players, each of whom had played the sport since childhood. Using a technique called (DTI) diffusion tensor imaging.  Researchers determined that frequent ‘headers’ had significant differences “in five brain regions in the frontal lobe and in the temporooccipital region," Dr. Lipton said. These brain regions are responsible for executive functioning, attention, memory, and higher-order visual functions. "Our goal was to determine if there is a threshold level for heading frequency that, when surpassed, resulted in detectable white matter injury," Dr. Lipton said. Researchers determined the thresh hold to be approximately 1,000 to 1,500 ‘heads’ per year. After that significant changes are seen in the affected regions of the brain. "What we've shown here is compelling evidence that there are brain changes that look like traumatic brain injury as a result of heading a soccer ball with high frequency," Dr. Lipton said. "Given that soccer is the most popular sport worldwide and is played extensively by children, these are findings that should be taken into consideration in order to protect soccer players."

Considering that this damage is caused by a ball.  It can be concluded that any type of contact to the head, not just full speed helmet-to-helmet, or an uppercut can cause changes in the brain.