SynthesisBritish journal of sports medicine2025
Quantification of heading in adult football: a systematic review and evidence synthesis.
Synthesis in British journal of sports medicine, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- Effects of Combined Caffeine andNutrients · 2026Trial
- Cognitive and Behavioral Functioning in Female Former Soccer Players: Results from the Head Impact and Trauma Surveillance Study (HITSS).Brain sciences · 2026Article
- Heading to guidance: understanding in-training heading demands for elite men's and women's football.British journal of sports medicine · 2025Observational
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveThis study aims to evaluate the quantification of heading in adult football (soccer) across practice, game and laboratory settings. Additionally, it examines how variables such as technical categorisation, ball properties, gender, position, level and type of play influence acceleration, force, nature and frequency of heading.
designA systematic review was conducted in accordance with Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses-Protocols guidelines and registered with PROSPERO (CRD42021249268). DATA SOURCES: MEDLINE, ScienceDirect, SPORTDiscus, CINAHL, Web of Science, Scopus and ProQuest. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA FOR SELECTING STUDIES: Studies published in English between 2000 and 2024 that quantified subjective and/or objective measures of acceleration, force, nature and frequency of heading in football were included.
resultsThirty-two articles met the eligibility criteria. Measurements of acceleration, force, nature and frequency were measured in practice and game situations; however, no study reported all measures synchronously from both practice and games in the same investigation. Differences in acceleration (linear/rotational), force, nature and frequency when heading were observed and influenced by gender, playing position, type of header, approach, preceding events, ball properties and neck strength. Acceleration and force were the highest from goal kicks, and a larger frequency of headers was exhibited in training than games. The nature of headers was difficult to report due to inconsistencies in the terms used across the literature to define the type of header or event preceding the header.
conclusionOur findings inform the standardisation and accuracy of quantifying heading in football. Future research should focus on quantifying heading in uncontrolled scenarios using valid and reliable technology and verify ball-to-head impacts through video analytics to determine any relevant clinical thresholds for heading.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.