Motorhead Fan Suffers Brain Haemorrhage After Headbanging

A man in Germany suffered bleeding on the brain following a night of headbanging at a Motorhead gig.

After complaining of worsening headaches, the unnamed 50-year-old man was treated by neurosurgeons at Hannover Medical School a month after the December 2012 concert.

A scan revealed a blood clot on the right side of his brain and doctors successfully managed to remove it following keyhole surgery. The man, who wants to remain anonymous, had no history of head trauma and denied misusing drugs or alcohol. However, he said he had headbanged for years and had last done so at a Motorhead gig four weeks previously.

Writing in the Lancet, Dr Ariyan Pirayesh Islamian and his colleagues said that after draining the clot they found a cyst, which possibly made him more susceptible to brain injuries.

"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," the doctors wrote.

"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."

They added: "We are not against headbanging. The risk of injury is very, very low. But I think if (our patient) had (gone) to a classical concert, this would not have happened."

There are thought to be only three known cases linking headbanging to bleeding on the brain.

British neurosurgeon Dr. Colin Shieff said such injuries were very rare: "There are probably other higher risk events going on at rock concerts than headbanging.

“Most people who go to music festivals and jump up and down while shaking their heads don't end up in the hands of a neurosurgeon."

Luke Griggs, from brain inury association Headway, told the BBC: "It would be highly unlikely for a person to sustain a haematoma from headbanging at a concert".

"However, we strongly recommend that anyone who suffers a constant, worsening headache for an extended period of time - having been to a concert or otherwise - should seek medical advice."