Tier 2 — strong

High-intensity resistance training and collagen supplementation improve patellar tendon adaptations in professional female soccer athletes

Joonsung Lee, David C Robshaw, Robert M Erskine
Experimental Physiology 2025 110(11):1551–1560; online August 2024

Bibliography

PubMed
PMID 39207908
PubMed Central
PMC12576002
DOI
10.1113/EP092106
Funding
The authors reported no funding for the study.
Competing interests
The authors declared no commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Study snapshot

DesignRandomized pair-matched placebo-controlled pre-season training study
ModelProfessional women footballers aged 25.7 ± 4.2 years
Sample11 professional female soccer players; collagen n=6, placebo n=5
Intervention30 g collagen + 500 mg vitamin C before training versus energy-matched placebo + vitamin C
Duration10 weeks; 3 training sessions/week
EndpointsPatellar tendon stiffness; Young's modulus; CSA; Knee extensor strength

What the study showed, in plain terms

In a very small women-athlete trial, 30 g collagen with vitamin C before training increased patellar tendon stiffness and modulus more than training alone, without a differential CSA effect.

Key findings

Stiffness +15.4% vs +4.6%; modulus +14.2% vs +3.4%; both differences statistically significant in the small trial.

What this study can and cannot tell us

N=11 and confounded with concurrent high-intensity training and vitamin C; not evidence for reduced injury rates or a 10-g daily consumer dose.

Editorial review

Reviewed by the Biohack Blueprint research team

Last verified

Dr. Khaled Mahmoud, MBBChCritical Care Medicine, Longevity Science & Editorial Direction Dr. Amr Yasser, PhDCardiometabolic, Musculoskeletal, Gut & Bioavailability Dr. Abdulla Mostafa, PhDCellular Senescence, Neurological, Mitochondrial & Brain-Ageing Biology