Training load, energy balance and bone health in football (Version 1)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Quantification of training load, energy balance and bone health in football players and match officials: implications for athlete health
IRAS ID
366958
Contact name
Mark Hearris
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Manchester Metropolitan University
Duration of Study in the UK
10 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
Soccer is an ever-evolving global sport, and the physical demands on players and match officials are increasing every year. Keeping players and officials healthy is therefore a major priority. To do this, sports medicine teams need to support athletic development while also reducing the risk of injuries. This involves regularly tracking things like training load, energy intake and expenditure, and other health and performance measures over time. Both training load and energy balance are known to influence bone health and the risk of bone-related injuries. They also play an important role in how young players grow and mature, and how all athletes adapt to training throughout their careers. However, there is currently very little high-quality, long-term research looking at how training load and energy balance affect bone health and injury risk in soccer players and officials. As such, the aim of this study is to understand how changes in training load and energy balance impact bone health and injury in elite youth and adult soccer players and match officials.
To achieve our aim, this study will observe youth and adult players and match officials over a 10 year period to track changes in training load and energy balance to understand how this impacts upon their bone health and bone injury. Players will be recruited from Manchester United Football Club and match officials will be recruited from the Professional Game Match Officials.
REC name
Wales REC 2
REC reference
26/WA/0038
Date of REC Opinion
9 Apr 2026
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion