Published on Show Me Mizzou April 24, 2026
Story by Tony Rehagen, BA, BJ ’01
American football has long been in the spotlight when it comes to brain injuries. But thanks, in part, to a Mizzou researcher, the danger facing the other type of footballers is getting more notice, and just in time for the 2026 FIFA World Cup in America.
Back when Ross Zafonte, executive vice dean of the University of Missouri School of Medicine, played high school football, the word “concussion” was not widely used, and head injuries weren’t taken too seriously in any sport. “We thought everyone got better in a couple of days,” Zafonte says. “We now realize it’s more complicated. Some people don’t get better right away.”
While at Harvard, Zafonte was principal investigator on a landmark Football Players Health Study, directly leading to increased awareness of the signs, effects and medical risk factors of traumatic head injuries among players. He also helped identify a new sign of concussion known as SHAAKE (Spontaneous Headshake After a Kinematic Event), when an athlete shakes their head as if to “clear the cobwebs.”
Zafonte has been shifting his attention from the gridiron to the pitch. Specifically, he’s focused on the number of high-velocity headers, or use of the forehead to pass, shoot or clear the ball, a player takes over the course of their career, especially those players who do it more than 1,000 times a year. He says in the U.S., Major League Soccer has made strides to address these issues, but internationally, there are more divergent forces at play, each with a different interpretation of the situation.
“Is all this contact necessary?” Zafonte says. “With headers, we’re trying to limit them, especially in youth soccer and later in life when the neck mass isn’t there to support the head. They’re almost a bobblehead. It’s all about mitigating the risk without destroying the fabric of the game.”
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