Head banging increases the risk of head and neck injury, but the effects may be lessened with reduced head and neck motion, head banging to lower tempo songs or to every second beat, and using protective equipment such as neck braces, finds a study in the Christmas issue published on bmj.com.
The researchers attended hard rock and heavy metal concerts including Motörhead, Ozzy Osbourne and Skid Row, and identified that the up-down style was the most common head banging technique. They constructed a theoretical head banging model of this popular style to examine the effect the range of head and neck motion has on injury severity. A focus group of ten musicians was used to calculate the average tempo of their favourite head banging songs.
The authors found that there is an increasing risk of neck injury beginning at tempos of 130 beats per minute related to the range of motion in the head banging style.
And what of two of the most famous head bangers, Beavis and Butt-head? When head banging at a tempo of 164 beats per minute to “I Wanna be Sedated” the range of motion of Beavis’ head and neck is about 45º, say the authors, so he would be unlikely to sustain any injury. But the news for Butt-head may not be so rosy. Preferring to head bang at a range of motion of 75º, he may well experience symptoms of headaches and dizziness.
I like their suggested remedies: have AC/DC switch to songs like “Moon River” instead of “Highway to Hell”.
I prefer crowd surfing mosh pit style.
I used to play guitar and sing in a metal band back in the early 90’s, and this info has long been public knowledge within the bands at least. “Heavy Metal Whiplash” was common after gigs, I can remember a few times where I couldn’t turn my head for a few days after a show. After I left the music scene, I started seeing a chiropractor and she worked for a while in getting my neck back in working order. I still have recurring neck pain from all the damage I did back then. Between that and the hearing damage, kind of starts to negate all the fun that we had back in the day.
Now, pardon me, I have some kids to chase off my lawn…
” Head and neck injury risks for Head Bangers ” – Ya think!?!
As an ex-metal-head and karate enthusiast with a head smashing habit, these guys are also looking at neck and upper back arthritis, sinus trouble and eye lens dislocation. Just saying.
I’ve been headbanging for at least 20 years now, and never suffered any…uh…..what was the question?
Is it just me or… that wasn’t as offensive as it could have been.
I guess the dain bramage from slammin’ it around in the skull was outside the scope of this study.