In the playground, it is most often the boys who play at football. That may soon change with this new study from researchers at the University of Southern Denmark. Compulsory football sessions for everyone, and even for girls who are not used to doing it, would be enormously beneficial for the physical health of children. The results appeared in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports.
The study focused on 392 children aged 10 to 12, and from 12 different schools. 292 participants played football for 45 minutes, twice a week, for 11 weeks. The remaining children were part of the control group.
Larger effects on girls
The researchers found that the training had health effects for the children (both boys and girls) compared to the control group:
– the arterial pressure systolic decreased by 6 mmHg
– muscle mass increased by 400 g
– balance performance increased by 1.5 seconds
– the performance of horizontal jump increased by 10 cm
For their part, the girls even obtained more impressive results! Their muscle mass increased by 700 g, jump height by 13 cm and balance by 2.1 seconds. These improvements were seen in 84% of girls who did not usually play football.
“Study shows that health education on the soccer field improves muscle strength, muscle mass, balance and blood pressure in 10-12 year old girls, including girls who have no no experience of football”, explains in a statement Peter Krustrup, one of the study’s authors.
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