Rocker shocker: Head banging hurts head

SYDNEY, Dec. 19 (UPI) -- Head banging -- which some say began in 1968 at a Led Zeppelin concert -- increases the risk of head and neck injury, Australian researchers said.

Declan Patton and Andrew McIntosh from the University of New South Wales in Australia analyzed the injury risk from head banging and examined possible ways to protect against injuries.

The researchers said head banging has developed into a collection of distinctive styles including the up-down, the circular swing, the full body and the side-to-side.

The study found the head banging 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.

The researchers attended hard rock and heavy metal concerts by acts including Motorhead, Ozzy Osbourne and Skid Row, and identified that the up-down style was the most common head banging technique.

The authors found that there is an increasing risk of neck injury beginning at tempos of 130 beats per minute, but the average head banging song has a tempo of about 146 beats per minute. The authors suggest that at that tempo head banging may cause headaches and dizziness if the range of movement of the head and neck is more than 75 degrees.

The findings are published in the British Medical Journal.