HEAVY metal really can do your head in, according to doctors who treated a Motorhead fan with a blood clot on the brain caused by headbanging.

The 50-year-old German developed the condition after getting carried away at one of the hardcore rock band's concerts. It is the fourth documented case of subdural haematoma linked to headbanging - one of the other cases was fatal.

Specialists treated the fan at Hannover Medical School two weeks after he started suffering a constant, worsening headache that affected the whole head.

A CT scan confirmed the man had a subdural haematoma - a clot caused by blood leaking into the space between the skull and the brain.

Surgeons successfully removed the clot via a hole drilled into the skull and the man made a full recovery.

Subdural haematomas are most often caused by blows to the head, but the patient could not recall suffering such an injury. However, a month before attending hospital he had been to a Motorhead concert where he joined others headbanging in the audience, according to an article in The Lancet.