# Can you give yourself brain damage from headbanging? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 2, 2016, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-give-yourself-brain-damage-from-headbanging/770423 "2016-11-02T07:12:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2016, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-give-yourself-brain-damage-from-headbanging/770423/21 "2016-11-04T00:18:03Z")
I shoot concerts, and I asked a doctor friend who is an expert on concussions (he has been on brain trauma commissions for both the NFL owners and the NFL players) if there was any safe amount of headbanging. He was of the opinion that there was no safe level, that it was a bad idea in general. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2016, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-give-yourself-brain-damage-from-headbanging/770423/22 "2016-11-04T00:48:08Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > **JOHN\_TITOR** , did you come from the future to fix Unix? Unless he’s the one who ensured 64-bit systems would take over the server space prior to 2038, no, he didn’t fix the Unix problem John Titor warned us all about. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2016, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-give-yourself-brain-damage-from-headbanging/770423/23 "2016-11-04T01:10:34Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > I shoot concerts, and I asked a doctor friend who is an expert on concussions (he has been on brain trauma commissions for both the NFL owners and the NFL players) if there was any safe amount of headbanging. He was of the opinion that there was no safe level, that it was a bad idea in general. NO safe amount? Is it no longer safe to nod my head to the beat? That’s all headbanging is. The harder the metalling, the harder the nodding. Sure, you can go to far and hurt yourself, but NO safe amount? That seems…hyperbolic at best. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2016, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-give-yourself-brain-damage-from-headbanging/770423/24 "2016-11-04T02:47:33Z")
> [@snfaulkner](#): > > NO safe amount? Is it no longer safe to nod my head to the beat? That’s all headbanging is. The harder the metalling, the harder the nodding. Sure, you can go to far and hurt yourself, but NO safe amount? That seems…hyperbolic at best. Where is the line from nodding to banging? I asked him about “headbanging”, and I think both he and I assumed that it described a certain amount of urgency in the back and forth movement - say roughly equal to the back and forth speed of coitus as the man approaches orgasm. One might “nod” for quite a while, but as you get close to climax, the “banging” takes over. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Lowry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Sam\_Lowry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Lowry)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2016, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-give-yourself-brain-damage-from-headbanging/770423/25 "2016-11-05T13:53:50Z")
> [@snfaulkner](#): > > NO safe amount? Is it no longer safe to nod my head to the beat? That’s all headbanging is. The harder the metalling, the harder the nodding. Sure, you can go to far and hurt yourself, but NO safe amount? That seems…hyperbolic at best. I’d assume that they mean the number of times you headbang. Someone who goes to one Metallica concert and headbangs will have less damage than someone who goes to a metal show every Friday and headbangs, but it’s still more than zero damage for the first person. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2016, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-give-yourself-brain-damage-from-headbanging/770423/26 "2016-11-07T12:40:22Z")
From WebMD in 2008: [Metal Health: Head Banging Hurts](http://www.webmd.com/parenting/news/20081217/metal-health-head-banging-hurts#1) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-give-yourself-brain-damage-from-headbanging/770423.md?page=1)