Shaking your head too much during a concert can cause strokes. Hard rock doesn’t just shake its head…
We have all seen concerts during which the spectators spend hours shaking their heads. It’s called head banging. It was originally a way to enhance the effects of certain substances, especially alcohol, but a fan suffered a subdural hematoma from shaking his head during a concert of hard rock. And according to brain specialists, it would be far from rare: moving your head too much during a concert can cause cerebrovascular accidents (CVA).
This practice consists of shaking the head, on the rhythm of rock music. She appeared in 1968, during a Led Zeppelin concert. Since then, it has continued to evolve, accompanied by its share of legends.
The “head banging” had become so frequent, that we had not had the opportunity to perceive the dangerousness, because, curiously, there was a lot of unsaid on this subject… It would cause, according to the versions , strokes, loss of hearing or consciousness… It has already been proven that too violent a head banging can lead to ruptures of the carotid artery, sprains and even fractures of the cervical vertebrae… But nothing is wrong. was proven and above all officially published by doctors. However, a fan went to the emergency room: he suffered from headaches that had been getting worse for 2 weeks. The scanner revealed a subdural hematoma… Impossible to find the origin. No anomalous details emerged from the medical records to provide an explanation. Except, a month earlier, this fan had gone to a hard rock concert, and had practiced the head banging without restraint.
Subdural hematoma is a real medical emergency
It is an effusion of blood outside the brain but inside the skull. This would be of no importance, and above all no gravity, if the brain were not compressed by the blood which accumulates and which cannot be evacuated. What gives these progressive migraines and a state which deteriorates after a few hours or days.
Only one treatment: evacuate the hematoma. This intervention has been known since the dawn of time. This is called a trepanation, a very simple and spectacular intervention, both in terms of the technique and the result. A hole in the skull… and then we let it flow!
It is so effective that it is the oldest surgical procedure; we find traces of the first trepanations on the skulls of prehistoric men!
Nowadays, as soon as this type of hematoma is suspected, a CT scan is prescribed. Diagnosis and treatment are immediate. This is an extremely common intervention in neurosurgery departments.
This bleeding can be caused by head trauma, shocks especially at the temple, during falls but also punches. And a great classic: the golf ball that hits the head.
moon river
However, you should not deprive yourself of the pleasure of shaking your head in concert, if it is really extreme, as the fans say. But beware ! You don’t have to do it anyhow. Doctors have published, in the very serious British Medical Journal, a study that concludes that to shake your head safely, you should not exceed 130 beats per minute. On average, a rock track runs at 146… and a metal band hits 220!
And these doctors give two pieces of advice…
If you absolutely want to do head banging, put on a neck brace… It’s going to be very trendy! Or rather, choose a song – and they even recommend a title: Moon River, theme from the movie “Diamonds on Sofa”! Not sure you like it…