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We investigated whether menstrual cycle phases influence non-concussive heading kinematics in elite female footballers, and whether these impacts affect an athlete\u2019s cognition. Five eumenorrheic elite female footballers (M\n                    <jats:sub>age<\/jats:sub>\n                    \u2009=\u200923\u2009\u00b1\u20094\u00a0years) participated in a 16-week proof-of-concept study wherein menstrual cycle phases were tracked, and cognition was monitored. Participants performed a weekly controlled heading drill by heading a ball thrown from 5\u00a0m away. Head accelerations were measured using custom-moulded PROTECHT instrumented mouthguards. 256 headers revealed no significant differences in head acceleration across the various phases of the menstrual cycle. However, change in cognitive performance was related to heading completion and menstrual phase. Hormonal fluctuations during the menstrual cycle may influence cognition independent of head impact biomechanics among elite female athletes, under controlled conditions. We note that our study also demonstrated the safety and efficacy of the mouthguard equipment employed here, as well as the ease with which the protocol was received by the athletes. These outcomes should be considered when implementing future research with larger cohorts and the inclusion of match-related heading.\n                  <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1007\/s00221-026-07300-2","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,21]],"date-time":"2026-05-21T08:51:07Z","timestamp":1779353467000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Non-concussive impacts, cognition, and the menstrual cycle: a proof-of-concept study of elite female footballers"],"prefix":"10.1007","volume":"244","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3751-3179","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Benjamin","family":"Tari","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Megan","family":"Lowery","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Chris M.","family":"Jones","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5438-8587","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Kieran","family":"Austin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Mike","family":"Loosemore","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6894-6658","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Paul W.","family":"Burgess","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7423-1088","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Flaminia","family":"Ronca","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"297","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,21]]},"reference":[{"key":"7300_CR1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1317","DOI":"10.1007\/s10439-022-03025-9","volume":"50","author":"KB Arbogast","year":"2022","unstructured":"Arbogast KB, Caccese JB, Buckley TA et al (2022) Consensus head acceleration measurement practices (CHAMP): origins, methods, transparency and disclosure. 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