Soccer headers: do mouthguards protect your brain?
NCT ID NCT04426188
First seen Jun 24, 2026 · Last updated Jun 27, 2026 · Updated 1 time
Summary
This study looked at how heading a soccer ball changes the brain and whether wearing a mouthguard makes a difference. Twenty-one male soccer players did 10 headers in two sessions—once with a mouthguard and once without. Before and after, they had brain scans, cognitive tests, and measurements of neck strength and jaw muscle activity.
What this could mean
Our plain-language read of the trial. This is informational only, not medical advice or a prediction.
- What this could lead to
- If successful, this could help understand how soccer headers affect the brain and whether mouthguards reduce that impact.
- What could go wrong
- This is a very small, early study with only 21 male players. It looks at short-term changes, not long-term brain health, so results may not apply widely.
This is an AI summary of the original study and may miss details. Read our disclaimer.
Study facts
What this study's own registry entry says, in plain language.
- Phase
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Not a phased trial
Phase numbers describe drug development. The registry uses this when they do not apply, as it does for trials of devices, procedures or behaviour changes, and for observational studies.
- Participants
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21 people
The number who actually took part.
- Started
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Jun 2020
- Finished
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Jan 2021
- Lead sponsor
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Other sponsor
The registry's catch-all category, for sponsors it does not file as a company, a government agency, or a research network.
Who can take part
This study's own entry requirements. Only the study team can say for certain whether you qualify.
- Ages
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18 to 25 years
- Sex
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Male participants only
- Healthy volunteers
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Accepted
You do not need to have the condition being studied to take part.
Show the full entry requirements Hide the full entry requirements
Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.
Inclusion Criteria: Male 18 to 25 years, enrolled in French Social Security, recruited from the soccer teams of the University of Bordeaux Exclusion Criteria: * Abnormal neurological examination * Taking drugs targeting the central nervous system * Any unhealed injury * History of head trauma, or other notion of central nervous system injury * History of severe high blood pressure, diabetes, chronic cardiovascular pathology, progressive or debilitating disease * Family history of epilepsy * Contraindication to MRI: head circumference\> 60 - Claustrophobia - Pacemaker, Implantable Neurostimulation, Implantable Defibrillator - Cochlear Implants - Ocular or cerebral ferromagnetic foreign body - refusal to be informed of an anomaly detected with MRI * Individuals under legal protection or unable of giving their informed consent
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Conditions
The condition(s) this trial relates to.
As listed by the trial registrant
The condition terms exactly as the trial's registrant entered them.
Contacts and locations
Locations
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CHU de Bordeaux
Bordeaux, 33 076, France
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