Researchers from the University of Dundee are set to launch a new study into the impact of intensive football training on bone growth in young players.

Members of the Glasgow Rangers Football Club youth academy will be participating in the research, which will use the same motion analysis used to create football video games. The team behind the study are now seeking similarly aged youngsters who do not take part in such an intensive training and playing regime in order to compare the effects.

Professor Rami Abboud, director of the Institute of Motion Analysis and Research at the university, said: "Although football is a major global sport, there is a significant weakness in the scientific literature as to whether targeted exercise training and many hours of practice are actually beneficial to growing individuals. "We already have a good group of young footballers engaged with the study, thanks to the part Rangers are playing in the study. But we need another group of non-sports-playing boys so we can start to make comparisons between the two different types."

The research is a joint venture between the institute, Glasgow Rangers and two other centres at the University of Dundee - the Centre for Anatomy and Human Identification and the Institute of Sports and Exercise.