Metal and rock fans are being warned about the dangers of headbanging after a 50-year-old man developed a blood clot on the brain during a Motorhead concert.
Doctors in Germany say the man complained of a persistent headache in the weeks following the gig and they discovered bleeding on the brain which developed into a clot, the BBC reports.
The news comes as Motorhead prepare to play at London’s Hyde Park with Black Sabbath today and Sonisphere festival kicks off at Knebworth.
The man said he had no history of head trauma and said he hadn’t been drinking excessively or taken any drugs. But he added he had been headbanging at the 2012 gig.
Surgeons at Hannover Medical School successfully removed the clot, but in their case report, the doctors warned: “Some fans might be endangered by indulging in excessive headbanging.”
Three other cases of bleeding on the brain have been linked to headbanging.
The doctors’ report added: “We assume that headbanging, with its brisk forward and back acceleration and deceleration forces, led to rupturing of bridging veins causing haemorrhage into the subdural space.
“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.”
Brain injury association Headway say it was a very rare case. Headway’s Luke Griggs adds: “Repeated aggressive movement of the head can lead to damage being caused to the brain as it moves inside the skull, but it’s fair to say this is a very unusual case.
“It would be highly unlikely for a person to sustain a haematoma from headbanging at a concert.”
