1. Heading in Football: Incidence, Biomechanical Characteristics and the Association with Acute Cognitive Function-A Three-Part Systematic Review
McCunn R (Heart of Midlothian Football Club, Tynecastle Park , Edinburgh, EH11 2NL, UK. bob.mccunn@me.com), Beaudouin F, Stewart K, Meyer T, MacLean J.
Sports Med. 2021 Jun 15. doi: 10.1007/s40279-021-01492-z
This review following the PRISMA guidelines searched studies that reported heading exposure in football, biomechanical characteristics of heading or the relationship between heading and cognitive function. Heading incidence ranged between 1 to 9 headers per player per match. Average head acceleration ranged from approximately 4 to 50 g. 9 out of 12 included studies did not observe a negative impact on cognitive test performance following exposure to heading and while 3 did, these negative effects were limited to reaction time and memory function.
2. Physiological Monitoring Detected Changes During Women’s Soccer Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury
Detherage JP (Division of Sports Medicine, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, USA) et al.
Cureus. 2021 May 4;13(5):e14838. doi: 10.7759/cureus.14838
This observational study focalized in one female soccer player that sustained an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury in a preseason camp. On the day of her injury, the relative percentage heart rate recovery between intense training sets was much lower than her fellows, and also she displayed a lower glomerular filtration rate (GFR). These findings may reflect an imbalanced autonomous nervous system recovery on the injury day, a potential risk factor for ACL injury.