Sport
Football asks for repeated sprints, sudden stops and turns, jumps, kicks and tackles over 90 minutes, and most injuries are to the legs: hamstrings, groins, knees and ankles. The best-tested answer is a warm-up: the 11+ from FIFA, football's world governing body, which takes about 20 minutes and cut injuries by about a third across four trials, most in the players who kept doing it, at least twice a week. Two short programmes add to it: the Nordic hamstring exercise, which halves hamstring injuries, and the Copenhagen adduction exercise, which cut groin problems by about 40% in men's football.
This guide sets out the 11+ exactly as FIFA's manual lays it out, with its three levels, and the hamstring and groin programmes as they were trialled. It covers what protects girls' and women's knees, how strength and interval training improve your game and when to fit them in, and heads: if in doubt, sit them out, and The Football Association's limits on heading. Each exercise has a 3D demo, the closest match where the catalog has no exact one.
In elite European men's clubs, players had about 8 injuries for every 1,000 hours of football, around 2 each a season, and match rates were nearly 7 times training rates. Muscle injuries made up nearly a third, led by the hamstrings, whose share of all injuries doubled from 12% to 24% over the two decades to 2022.
It's a 20-minute warm-up of running drills and strength, balance and jumping exercises, done at the start of every training session. Across 4 trials it cut injuries by 39%.
Players who did the 11+ most often had 35% fewer injuries than those who did it a moderate amount. Veteran players who did it about once a week had no fewer injuries overall, so aim for at least twice a week.
Programmes that include the Nordic hamstring exercise halve hamstring injuries. The Copenhagen adduction exercise, three times a week in pre-season and once a week in season, cut groin problems by 41% in Norwegian semi-professional men.
For each training session or match, women injure the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), a key knee ligament, about twice as often as men. Warm-ups with strength, landing and balance work cut non-contact ACL injuries in female athletes by about two-thirds.
A player with a suspected concussion comes off straight away and doesn't play or train for at least 24 hours. They should be assessed within 24 hours, by a healthcare professional or through 111, the UK's National Health Service (NHS) helpline, and shouldn't play a match for at least 21 days.
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Football is an intermittent endurance sport. Elite players cover about 10 km in a match at an average of 80 to 90% of their maximum heart rate, with many short sprints, jumps, tackles and turns. In professional players, high-intensity running in the last 15 minutes was 35 to 45% lower than in the first 15. The NHS counts football as vigorous activity.
The hamstrings take the strain in sprinting, the adductors (the inner thigh muscles) in kicking and side-to-side moves, and the knee and ankle ligaments in cutting, landing and tackles. FIFA's manual names core strength, balance and body control, hamstring strength while lowering, jumping and agility as the key elements of injury prevention.
In 17 international players, those with stronger half squats sprinted faster over 10 and 30 m and jumped higher. That's an association, but the training trials below point the same way.
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Rates are given as injuries per 1,000 hours of football, so studies of different sizes and lengths can be compared. Match rates are many times training rates at every level.
In elite men's football, muscle injuries were 31% of all injuries, and the hamstrings accounted for 37% of those. Their share of all injuries rose from 12% to 24% over the two decades to 2022. Repeat injuries were 12% of all injuries and kept players out longer, and in a Danish trial they fell most with the Nordic exercise. Our hamstring strain guide covers treatment and return to play.
The adductors accounted for 23% of muscle injuries in elite men. In a Norwegian trial, 21% of semi-professional men in the control teams reported groin problems in an average week. Weak adductors are the factor training can change, and the Copenhagen adduction exercise strengthens them. Our groin strain guide covers what to do when it hurts.
Across 28 studies, women had 2.0 ACL injuries for every 10,000 times a player trained or played a match, and men 0.9: about 2.2 times the rate. In 2,329 elite players, women's risk was about 2.6 times men's and they were younger when injured, more than half the injuries happened without contact, and the rate in matches was about 20 times the rate in training. Our ACL injury guide covers what happens next.
Ankle injuries make up as much as a fifth of football injuries, and about three-quarters of them are sprains. Balance training cuts repeat sprains, as our ankle sprain guide explains.
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The quadriceps, at the front of the thigh, accounted for 19% of muscle injuries in elite men. Our quad strain guide covers early loading, the stages back to sprinting and kicking, and how to tell a strain from a dead leg.
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Tackles can sprain the medial collateral ligament (MCL) on the inside of the knee, and twists can tear a meniscus. Repeated jumping and running bring kneecap and tendon pain, and growing players can get Osgood-Schlatter disease below the kneecap. Calf strains were 13% of muscle injuries in elite men, the only muscle group whose injury rate rose with age. Our MCL sprain, meniscus tear, jumper's knee, Osgood-Schlatter and calf pain guides cover these.
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Concussion is less common than leg injuries: in youth football, about 0.2 to 0.3 for every 1,000 times a player trained or played a match, a little higher in girls. Fewer than 1 in 10 concussions involve being knocked out. The concussion section below says what to do.
In the first trial, 1,892 Norwegian girls aged 13 to 17 in 125 clubs did the 11+ in place of their usual warm-up at every training session through an 8-month season, and its running parts before matches. Coaches had a 3-hour course, and the warm-up took about 20 minutes. Injuries fell by 32%, severe injuries by 45% and overuse injuries by 53%; leg injuries, the main outcome, fell by 29%, which wasn't statistically significant. Teams used it in 77% of their sessions.
Across 4 cluster trials, the 11+ cut injuries by 39% (95% confidence interval 23% to 52% fewer). FIFA's earlier warm-up, the 11, didn't reduce injuries.
FIFA's manual is for players aged 14 and over: before every training session, at least twice a week, with parts 1 and 3 before matches. Our warm-up and workout follow the manual. Its doses differ from the first trial's for two exercises: the plank with alternate legs (3 sets of 40 to 60 seconds in the manual, 20 to 30 in the trial) and walking lunges (2 sets of 10 on each side in the manual, 2 sets of 30 seconds in the trial).
In 414 Nigerian boys aged 14 to 19 in 20 teams, the 11+ as the training warm-up for a 6-month season cut injuries by 41%, with teams using it in 60% of sessions and players in 74%. In US college men (65 teams randomised, 61 analysed, one season), the 11+ before training and matches cut injuries by 46%: 8.1 against 15.0 for every 1,000 times a player trained or played a match. The 11+ teams had 3 ACL injuries against 16 in the other teams, though 4 of them dropped out, citing a lack of time.
In the Norwegian trial, players who did the 11+ most often had 35% fewer injuries than those who did it a moderate amount. Teams used it about 1.3 times a week, and players did it in 79% of the sessions they attended, about 0.8 times a week. In Canadian girls aged 13 to 18, the players who kept to it most had about 70% fewer injuries, and in US college men, the more sessions a team did, the fewer injuries it had.
In 265 veteran men with an average age of about 44, the 11+ about once a week for 9 months didn't reduce injuries overall, though there were fewer severe injuries; the authors put it down to too few sessions. FIFA's manual puts it plainly: "research has shown that compliance is the key factor for efficacy".
FIFA's manual says that for younger players some 11+ exercises shouldn't be done and others need easing off. Its children's version, the 11+ Kids, replaced the usual warm-up in a trial of 3,895 players in under-9 to under-13 teams in 4 countries for a season: injuries fell by 48% and severe injuries by 74%. Injuries fell further the more often teams did it; the authors advise at least once a week, and twice for more benefit. Our exercise for children guide has more.
In Denmark, 942 professional and amateur men in 50 teams added a 10-week Nordic programme, then one session a week through the season. The same research group describes the 10 weeks as 27 sessions before the usual warm-up: one session of 2 sets of 5 in week 1, building to 3 sessions a week of 3 sets of 12, 10 and 8 in weeks 5 to 10. That leaves 8 sessions for weeks 2 to 4 (our arithmetic); the earlier trial the programme came from built from 2 sets of 6 to 3 sets of 8 to 12 over 4 weeks.
Acute hamstring injuries fell by about 70%, to 3.8 against 13.1 per 100 player seasons. New injuries fell by about 60% and repeat injuries by about 85%.
In 579 Dutch amateur men in 40 teams, 25 sessions over 13 weeks cut hamstring injuries from 0.8 to 0.25 per 1,000 hours, though not their severity, with 91% compliance. Across 15 studies of 8,459 athletes of both sexes in several sports, programmes that included the Nordic cut hamstring injuries by 51%; in the two football trials of the Nordic programme on its own, in 1,521 men, by 65%.
Two years after the Dutch trial, 69% of the players said they never did the programme and 4% always did. Across studies, 17% of elite men's teams and 3% of amateur teams kept to it, and most elite clubs don't follow the 10-week protocol. The benefit depends on doing it.
In Norway, 35 semi-professional men's teams (652 players) were randomised. The intervention teams did one exercise with three levels of difficulty, three times a week for 6 to 8 weeks of pre-season, then once a week through a 28-week season. Level 1 was lying on your side and lifting the lower leg (side-lying hip adduction), and the higher levels built up to the Copenhagen adduction exercise. A later paper describes an 8-week build in which the reps rose each week from 3 to 15, about 470 in all; one set on each side is our reading of it, and we couldn't see the trial's own wording for levels 2 and 3.
In an average week, 13.5% of players reported groin problems against 21.3% in the control teams: 41% lower odds. The outcome was self-reported groin problems of any kind, so the effect on strains that stop players training is less certain. Players completed about 70% of the sessions, most of which took under 5 minutes.
Afterwards, only 31% planned to keep to the protocol. Only 10% of Norwegian professional teams used it as written; most did 2 sets of 7 to 10 twice a week in pre-season and 2 sets of 8 to 11 once a week in season, and across 50 European teams about two-thirds of those using the exercise had changed it.
In 24 under-19 sub-elite players, 8 weeks of the Copenhagen adduction exercise raised the strength of the adductors while lowering by 36%, with little soreness. In under-19 elite players, swapping it into the 11+ in place of the Nordic raised that strength by 9% more than the standard 11+, which didn't raise it at all. A gentler six-level version that starts with holds raised it by about 25% in 25 professional players, with no control group.
Across 8 meta-analyses, warm-up programmes halved ACL injuries and cut non-contact ACL injuries in female athletes by two-thirds. In 18 studies of 27,231 young female athletes, the risk fell from about 1 in 54 to 1 in 111. Those programmes averaged 24 minutes, 2 to 3 times a week; younger athletes gained most, and programmes with more strength and landing work, such as Nordic hamstring lowers and lunges, did better.
In football, 4,564 Swedish girls aged 12 to 17 in 230 clubs did the 15-minute Knee Control warm-up twice a week through a 7-month season: 7 ACL injuries against 14 in the control clubs, 64% fewer. The third of players who kept to it most had 88% fewer ACL injuries than the third who kept to it least, and compliance fell a little each month.
Exercise and Sport Science Australia's 2026 position statement recommends plyometric (jumping), strength, balance, mobility and agility exercises for 10 to 30 minutes, 2 to 3 times a week, and says the evidence in men, elite athletes and many sports is limited. One trial in US college men found 3 ACL injuries with the 11+ against 16 without.
FIFA's earlier warm-up, the 11, didn't cut injuries in 2 trials, and a similar programme didn't change injury rates in 456 high-level Dutch amateur men despite good compliance (9.6 against 9.7 per 1,000 hours). The 11+ once a week didn't help veterans. FIFA leaves static stretching out of its warm-up: stretches are "not recommended as part of a warm-up programme, but can be performed at the end of the training session".
In 19 elite junior players (average age 18), 4 bouts of 4 minutes at 90 to 95% of maximum heart rate, with 3 minutes of jogging between, twice a week for 8 weeks, raised VO2 max, the most oxygen the body can use, from 58.1 to 64.3 mL per kg per minute. In matches they covered 20% more distance, made twice as many sprints and were involved with the ball 24% more often; jumping, strength, speed and kicking didn't change. It's one small trial in trained young men. Our Norwegian 4x4 interval workout is the same session.
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In 21 elite players, heavy half squats (4 sets of 4 at the heaviest load they could manage) plus 4x4 intervals twice a week for 8 weeks raised their one-rep best by 52% and their jump height by 3 cm, and cut their 10 m sprint time by 0.06 seconds; there was no control group. In a 2026 review of male players aged 15 and over, strength training improved hamstring and thigh strength, sprinting and jumping, and lowering-focused (eccentric) training helped most.
Across 14 randomised trials in 288 female players, plyometric (jump) training brought moderate gains in jump height and larger gains in agility and kicking, more in professional than in amateur players.
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Compared with usual warm-ups, the 11+ brought small to moderate gains in balance, change of direction and jump height across 17 studies of mixed quality, more with 3 or more sessions a week. In 81 amateur men, 3 sessions a week for 9 weeks improved landing control and core stability, with little change in sprinting, jumping or agility.
In a pilot trial in 19 Danish first-division players, the full 10-week Nordic programme didn't reduce sprint or jump performance, and every player completed it.
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Pre-season: two strength sessions a week, as in the trials above, while the Nordic and Copenhagen programmes build up. In season: one strength session a week kept strength and 40 m sprint speed for 12 weeks in professional players, while one every two weeks didn't, and the Nordic and Copenhagen drop to once a week. At every training session, the 11+ is the warm-up.
The site's strength plan for runners never lifts the day before a key session. Because soreness from unfamiliar lowering work peaks 1 to 3 days later, we suggest no heavy lifting, Nordics or hard jumping in the 48 hours before a match, and putting them early in the week instead (editorial).
In elite clubs, teams that held more pre-season sessions lost fewer days to injury in season, though pre-season explained very little of the difference between teams: an association.
The UK's concussion guidelines for grassroots sport, first published in 2023 and updated in November 2024, cover every level below elite sport: "if an individual is suspected of having a concussion, they must be immediately removed from play", and no one should return to competition, training or PE (physical education) lessons within 24 hours.
Get the player assessed within 24 hours, by a healthcare professional at the ground or by calling NHS 111, and call 999 for any red flag (see the warning signs below). After 24 to 48 hours of relative rest with little screen time, the return runs through 6 stages: light activity such as short walks, then more exercise, then training without any risk of head impact, then full training once free of symptoms at rest for 14 days. There's no return to competition before 21 days from the injury, counting the day of the injury as day 0.
Get advice from NHS 111 if symptoms get worse or haven't improved by 14 days, and see a GP if they last more than 28 days. Fewer than 1 in 10 concussions involve being knocked out, and children and teenagers take longer to recover.
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The Football Association (The FA) has its own concussion guidelines, in line with the 2022 international consensus, for clubs and games with a trained healthcare professional; elsewhere it says the UK grassroots guidelines should be followed. Its enhanced care pathway, which can allow an earlier return, is never for players aged 16 or under.
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Adult amateur football: heading practice is limited to 10 headers in one session a week. Practise the technique with thrown passes; long balls and crosses from more than 35 to 45 m give the highest forces. In the professional game, the recommended maximum is 10 higher-force headers a week in training.
Youth football: no heading in training up to under-11s; under-12s, at most one session a month with up to 5 headers; under-13s, one session a week with up to 5; under-14s to under-16s, one session a week with up to 10; under-18s, as few heading drills as possible. Don't over-inflate the balls.
Matches: deliberate heading is being phased out of affiliated grassroots matches, from under-7s to under-9s in the 2024 to 2025 season, under-10s from 2025 to 2026 and under-11s from 2026 to 2027, with an indirect free kick for a deliberate header.
Of 7,676 former Scottish professional footballers born between 1900 and 1977, 1.7% died with a neurodegenerative disease such as dementia, against 0.5% of 23,028 matched men from the general population: about 3.5 times the risk. Fewer of the footballers died of heart disease or lung cancer. The risk was highest in defenders, about 5 times, lowest and not clearly raised in goalkeepers, and higher with careers of over 15 years.
These studies show a link, not that heading causes dementia, and they can't give the risk for today's amateur players. The authors suggest reducing head impacts in the meantime, which is what The FA's limits do.
FIFA's 11+, exactly as its manual sets it out. Everyone starts part 2 at level 1, and each exercise moves up a level on its own once you can do it without difficulty for the full time or reps. It cut injuries in trials in young players of both sexes and in college men; the manual is for players aged 14 and over.
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The movement on the figure: Nordic curl
Each has a 3D demo. The Nordic and Copenhagen pages give the technique; the hop and landing moves train the knee control that ACL programmes build.
3D demoNordic curlAdvanced · An anchor point
3D demoCopenhagen plankAdvanced · A bench or box
3D demoForearm plankIntermediate · No equipment
3D demoSide plankIntermediate · No equipment
3D demoSingle-leg standBeginner · A wall
3D demoWalking lungeIntermediate · No equipment
3D demoSkater squatAdvanced · No equipment
3D demoJump squatIntermediate · No equipment
3D demoLateral bound (skater jump)Beginner · No equipment
3D demoSingle-leg hop and stickIntermediate · No equipment
3D demoRear-foot-elevated split squat (Bulgarian split squat)Intermediate · A bench or box
3D demoSprint intervalsAdvanced · No equipmentThe first two are new: FIFA's 11+ with its three levels, and the Nordic and adductor programmes as trialled. The knee control warm-up trains the same knee skills in a shorter session, and the Norwegian 4x4 is the interval session from the junior players' trial.
FIFA's 11+ injury prevention warm-up as its manual sets it out: running drills, strength, balance and jumping at three levels, then faster running.
20 minBeginner20 movesCardio machine, A wallThe Nordic hamstring and Copenhagen adduction programmes from the football trials: a 10-week build, three adductor levels, then once a week in season.
15 minIntermediate6 movesA wall, An anchor pointA 20-minute warm-up that trains your knees to track over your toes: side-hip strength, squats and lunges with alignment practice, balance and quiet landings.
20 minBeginner10 movesA wall, A bandThe Norwegian 4x4, a well-studied interval session for raising VO2 max: four 4-minute hard efforts with 3 easy minutes between, on a bike, rower or treadmill.
40 minIntermediate3 movesCardio machine, A wallAn advanced jump training session: pogo hops, box jumps, split squat jumps, broad jumps and depth jumps.
30 minAdvanced8 movesA bench or box, A stepA lower body workout at home: split squats, slider hamstring curls, single-leg bridges, step-ups, band walks and calf raises, with dumbbell options.
30 minIntermediate12 movesA wall, A stepA gym leg day: back squats, leg press, leg curls, Bulgarian split squats, leg extensions and calf raises.
55 minIntermediate9 movesA wall, A barbellHard core training: ab wheel rollouts, hanging leg raises, L-sits, Copenhagen planks, plank walk-ups and dragon flags.
30 minAdvanced6 movesAn ab wheel, Pull-up barA 20-minute no-equipment HIIT workout: jumping jacks, jump squats, mountain climbers, burpees, skips and bear crawls.
20 minIntermediate10 movesNo equipmentTwo strength sessions a week fit around training in pre-season; drop to one in season.
Two full-body strength sessions a week: the minimum that meets health guidelines, with every set, rep and rest, and an 8-week progression.
2 training days45 minBeginner3 days a weekA 12-week beginner barbell program: squat every session, alternate bench and row with press and deadlift, and add weight each time until it stalls.
3 training days50 minBeginner3 days a weekA weekly workout plan for women: three strength days, cardio and pelvic floor training, with the evidence on periods, pregnancy and menopause.
3 training days45 minBeginner4 days a weekA 4-day gym workout routine for men: upper and lower days, each muscle trained twice a week, with sets, reps, progression and the evidence.
4 training days50 minIntermediateThe NHS advises speaking to your GP first if you haven't exercised for some time, or if you have medical conditions or concerns. The Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire for Everyone (PAR-Q+) asks about a heart condition or high blood pressure, chest pain, dizziness or fainting, other long-term conditions and their medicines, bone or joint problems, and whether a doctor has said you should only exercise with supervision. A yes to any of them means checking first.
The PAR-Q+ asks you to see a qualified exercise professional before vigorous to maximal exercise if you're over 45 and not used to it. Football is vigorous, so build up with the 11+ and steady training first.
Follow the graduated return in the UK guidelines: no competition before day 21, and a GP if symptoms last more than 28 days.
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Return to pivoting sport is judged by tests of the knee as well as time, as our ACL injury guide explains. Get your physio's clearance, and keep a prevention warm-up going afterwards.
The Nordic and Copenhagen exercises prevent injuries, and they're late-stage exercises after one. Follow our hamstring strain or groin strain guide first.
FIFA's manual says players should be at least 14 for the 11+. Younger players use the 11+ Kids, as in our exercise for children guide.
The PAR-Q+ asks you to talk with your healthcare practitioner first. Our pregnancy guide lists contact sports among the activities to avoid.
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The UK guidelines call these red flags, needing urgent assessment by a healthcare professional or at A&E (accident and emergency), by ambulance if necessary. If a neck injury is suspected, only trained healthcare professionals should move the player.
The NHS says to get help from NHS 111 if, after a head injury, you're being sick, feel dizzy, take medicine that thins your blood, were drinking alcohol or taking drugs at the time, or have any other symptoms you're worried about. See a GP if symptoms last more than 2 weeks or you're not sure it's safe to return to sport, and don't play contact sports for at least 3 weeks.
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The NHS says to get advice from 111 now if your knee is very painful; you can't move it or put any weight on it; it's badly swollen or has changed shape; it locks, gives way or clicks painfully; or you have a very high temperature with redness or heat around it. A pop, quick swelling and a knee that gives way point to an ACL injury: our ACL injury guide says what to do.
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Call 999 or go to A&E if you heard a crack when you were injured, the injured part has changed shape or points at an odd angle, it's numb or tingling, or the skin has turned blue or grey or is cold to touch. Get help from NHS 111 if it's very painful, very swollen or bruised, or you can't put weight on it or walk more than a few steps. The NHS advises avoiding strenuous exercise such as running for up to 8 weeks after a sprain.
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Call 999 for sudden chest pain that doesn't go away, pain that spreads to your arms, neck, jaw, stomach or back, or chest pain with sweating, feeling sick, light-headedness or breathlessness.
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FIFA's earlier warm-up didn't reduce injuries, and nor did a similar programme in Dutch amateur men, while the 11+ cut them by 39%. What's in the warm-up, and how often you do it, matters.
The benefit follows compliance: the players who did it most had 35% fewer injuries than the middle group, the most committed Canadian girls about 70% fewer, and once a week didn't help veterans.
The 11+ cut injuries by 46% in US college men and 41% in Nigerian boys, and the Nordic and Copenhagen trials were in men.
In first-division players, the full 10-week programme didn't reduce sprint or jump performance, and in a 2026 review, lowering-focused hamstring training improved sprinting and jumping in male players.
Warm-up programmes cut non-contact ACL injuries in female athletes by two-thirds, and by 64% in Swedish girls' football.
Fewer than 1 in 10 concussions involve being knocked out. Any suspected concussion means coming off: if in doubt, sit them out.
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Former professionals had more neurodegenerative disease than the general population, defenders most. That's an association in players from decades ago, not proof that heading caused it, but it's enough for The FA to limit heading in training and remove it from young children's matches.
Start with FIFA's 11+ warm-up at every training session: running drills, planks, side planks, Nordic hamstring lowers, single-leg balance, squats and jumps. Add the Nordic and Copenhagen programmes for hamstrings and groins, and in pre-season two strength sessions and some interval running a week.
A 20-minute warm-up from FIFA with 15 exercises in 3 parts: slow running drills with a partner, then 6 strength, balance and jumping exercises at 3 levels, then faster running with cutting. Across 4 trials it cut football injuries by 39%.
As the warm-up for every training session, at least twice a week, with parts 1 and 3 before matches. The benefit grows with how often you do it, and FIFA says it takes 10 to 12 weeks to show and can fade if you stop.
Yes, for young men: it cut injuries by 46% in US college men and by 41% in Nigerian boys aged 14 to 19. Veterans in their 40s who did it about once a week had no fewer injuries overall, so do it at least twice a week.
Build up the Nordic hamstring exercise over 10 weeks to 3 sessions a week of 3 sets of 12, 10 and 8, then keep it going once a week in season. In Danish players this cut hamstring injuries by about 70%, and the 11+ includes the Nordic too.
The Copenhagen adduction exercise, three times a week in pre-season and once a week in season, cut groin problems by 41% in semi-professional men. Start at the easiest level, lying on your side and lifting the lower leg, and add reps each week.
For each session or match played, women's rate is about twice men's, for reasons that include how players land and cut, and the training and playing environment. Warm-ups such as the 11+ or Knee Control, done 2 to 3 times a week, halve ACL injuries and cut non-contact ones in female athletes by about two-thirds.
Yes: heavy squats with interval running twice a week improved strength, sprinting and jumping in elite players, and one strength session a week kept the gains in season. We suggest no heavy leg work in the 48 hours before a match.
Take them off straight away: if in doubt, sit them out. Get them assessed by a healthcare professional or NHS 111 within 24 hours, call 999 for red flags such as getting drowsier, repeated vomiting or a fit, and don't let them play a match for at least 21 days.
Former professional players had more dementia than the general population, defenders most, but those studies show a link, not proof that heading caused it. The FA limits heading practice for adults to 10 headers in one session a week, advises no heading in training up to under-11s, and is removing deliberate heading from under-7 to under-11 matches.
Exercise education for people who play sport, not a personal prescription or a diagnosis, and clinical review of these pages is pending. Check with a GP or physiotherapist before hard training if you have a heart condition, chest pain, dizziness or an injury that isn't settling, and stop for sharp or increasing pain. Health disclaimer.
