Biomechanical analysis of specific head impacts during real time male soccer play: a preliminary study

The number of head injuries in soccer increases every year, but only few studies have been carried out directly on the field. The restricted data limit the understanding of the risk of head injuries. Thus, the purpose of this research project was to identify head kinematics of specific head impacts underlying the risk of head injuries during male soccer play. Specific head impacts were heading technique and involuntary impact. Three groups of elite male soccer players wore an instrumented headband during games. Results showed that for the 3 groups heading techniques caused higher values of head kinematics than involuntary impacts, which could cause a higher risk of head injury.