Heading to guidance: understanding in-training heading demands for elite men's and women's football.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

To investigate the heading demands of elite footballers during training sessions using instrumented mouthguards (iMGs).

Methods

Methods followed the Consensus Head Acceleration Measure Practices guidelines. This prospective observational cohort study involved 52 elite male players from four clubs in the first and third tiers of English football, and 20 elite female football players from two clubs in the first tier. Players wore iMGs during outfield training sessions to collect data. A linear mixed model was used to identify differences in heading metrics based on sex, age and header situations, analysing 13 distinct metrics related to heading frequency and intensity.

Results

The study recorded 1496 heading impacts across 63 training sessions. The mean peak (

SUBMITTER: Townsend DC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12772566 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature