A Motörhead fan had to be treated for a blood clot on the brain after headbanging at a recent gig by the metal band.
The unnamed German man developed the condition after attending a gig by the band with his son, though doctors at the Hanover medical school where the 50 year old was treated were keen to stress that they do not believe that headbanging is a dangerous activity.
German doctors, via The Guardian, claim that the man developed a blood clot after seeing Motörhead live. He received medical attention after “suffering a constant, worsening headache that affected the whole head,” for two weeks after the live performance. The patient had no history of head injuries but was a regular headbanger at live concerts.
Doctors were able to allieviate the man’s headaches by drilling a hole into his brain and draining the blood. “We are not against headbanging,” said Dr Ariyan Pirayesh Islamian, one of the doctors at the Hanover medical school. “The risk of injury is very, very low. But I think if [the patient] had gone to a classical concert, this would not have happened.”
This is the fourth documented case of subdural haematoma linked to headbanging – which can cause the brain to bash off the skull and cause injury to the headbanger.