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Doctors in Germany have warned people that headbanging could be bad for your health. Headbanging is a dance done by fans of heavy metal music. Dancers shake their heads backwards and forwards, and from side to side, very quickly. Doctors say that it is possible the dance can lead to brain injury. German doctors recently treated a 50-year-old fan of the heavy metal band Motorhead. His headbanging led to brain damage. Doctors said the man had no previous history of head injuries but had been headbanging regularly for many years. The doctors said the risk of damage to the brain from headbanging was still low and said heavy metal fans do not need to stop doing the dance.



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The man complained of bad headaches after going to a Motorhead concert. He went to hospital for a brain scan. Doctors found he had bleeding inside his brain. He needed an operation to repair the damage from the headbanging. Doctors drilled a hole in his brain to release some blood. Two months after the operation his headaches disappeared. The head doctor Ariyan Pirayesh said: "We are not against headbanging. The risk of injury is very, very low. I think if our patient had gone to a classical concert, this would not have happened." He had good news for heavy metal fans and said they should carry on enjoying dancing, saying: "Rock 'n' roll will never die. Heavy metal fans should rock on."

Sources:

  • http://gulfnews.com/arts-entertainment/celebrity/hollywood/heavy-metal-can-be-hazardous-to-your-brain-doctors-1.1355980
  • http://www.nhs.uk/news/2014/07July/Pages/Headbanging-could-damage-your-Motorhead.aspx
  • http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/279105.php

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