Does Reduced Ball Inflation Pressure in Association Football Decrease Head Impact Kinematics?

ABSTRACT:

Purpose

Apparent degeneration in brain health due to heading the football is amongst the most pressing and contentious health-related questions in sport (Keogh F, Pirks N (2024) "Pain was sickening"-Ex-players on heading fears. In: BBC). The purpose of this study was to thoroughly explore the effectiveness of reduced inflation pressure as an intervention to reduce head kinematics from a ball to head impact. The influence of impact location, head orientation, neck flexion angle and ball type on the intervention were experimentally investigated.

Method

A Hybrid III head and neck was impacted in frontal and oblique locations with two modern footballs that were projected using a bespoke launch device. Peak linear acceleration, peak angular velocity, peak angular acceleration and

SUBMITTER: England R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12575582 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature