ReviewSports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.)2026
Kicking Off Motherhood: Considering Return to Play Postpartum in the Footballer.
Review in Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.), 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- Pregnant Pitches: Navigating Football Before and During Pregnancy.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2026Review
- Stepping into Play: a FIFA decision aid for football participation after childbirth.British journal of sports medicine · 2026Article
- "Happiness because I could play again": professional mother footballers' experiences of pregnancy and postpartum.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The longstanding belief that pregnancy marks the end of a footballer's career is increasingly being challenged, with more players returning to professional, domestic, and international competition after childbirth. Pregnancy and childbirth involve unique physiological, musculoskeletal, and psychological adaptations that can influence postpartum health, wellbeing, and the return-to-play (RTP) process. This narrative review synthesizes current literature on postpartum RTP, with a focus on the specific needs of footballers. Key considerations include labor and delivery, postpartum health and wellbeing, general postpartum physical activity guidelines, broader return-to-sport principles, and football-specific factors. By supporting footballers to continue their careers through motherhood, we can enhance player retention and inspire future generations to engage in football across the lifespan.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.