Injury rates decreased in men’s professional football: an 18-year prospective cohort study of almost 12 000 injuries sustained during 1.8 million hours of play

BackgroundThe UEFA Elite Club Injury Study is the largest and longest running injury surveillance programme in football.ObjectiveTo analyse the 18-season time trends in injury rates among male professional football players.Methods3302 players comprising 49 teams (19 countries) were followed from 2000–2001 through 2018–2019. Team medical staff recorded individual player exposure and time-loss injuries.ResultsA total of 11 820 time-loss injuries were recorded during 1 784 281 hours of exposure. Injury incidence fell gradually during the 18-year study period, 3% per season for both training injuries (95% CI 1% to 4% decrease, p=0.002) and match injuries (95% CI 2% to 3% decrease, p<0.001). Ligament injury incidence decreased 5% per season during training (95% CI 3% to 7% decrease, p<0.001) and 4% per season during match play (95% CI 3% to 6% decrease, p<0.001), while the rate of muscle injuries remained constant. The incidence of reinjuries decreased by 5% per season during both training (95% CI 2% to 8% decrease, p=0.001) and matches (95% CI 3% to 7% decrease, p<0.001). Squad availability increased by 0.7% per season for training sessions (95% CI 0.5% to 0.8% increase, p<0.001) and 0.2% per season for matches (95% CI 0.1% to 0.3% increase, p=0.001).ConclusionsOver 18 years: (1) injury incidence decreased in training and matches, (2) reinjury rates decreased, and (3) player availability for training and match play increased.

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Effects of Regular Away Travel on Training Loads, Recovery, and Injury Rates in Professional Australian Soccer Players

International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance ◽

10.1123/ijspp.2014-0266 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 10 (5) ◽

pp. 546-552 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Peter Fowler ◽

Rob Duffield ◽

Adam Waterson ◽

Joanna Vaile

Keyword(s):

Cumulative Effects ◽

Soccer Players ◽

Football Players ◽

Injury Incidence ◽

Professional Football ◽

Injury Rates ◽

Longitudinal Effects ◽

National Competition ◽

Match Location ◽

At Home

The current study examined the acute and longitudinal effects of regular away travel on training load (TL), player wellness, and injury surrounding competitive football (soccer) matches. Eighteen male professional football players, representing a team competing in the highest national competition in Australia, volunteered to participate in the study. Training loads, player wellness and injury incidence, rate, severity, and type, together with the activity at the time of injury, were recorded on the day before, the day of, and for 4 d after each of the 27 matches of the 2012−13 season. This included 14 home and 13 away matches, further subdivided based on the midpoint of the season into early (1−13) and late competition (14−27) phases. While TLs were significantly greater on day 3 at home compared with away during the early competition phase (P = .03), no other significant effects of match location were identified (P > .05). Total TL and mean wellness over the 6 d surrounding matches and TL on day 3 were significantly reduced during the late compared with the early competition phase at home and away (P < .05). Although not significantly (P > .05), training missed due to injury was 60% and 50% greater during the late than during the early competition phase at home and away, respectively. In conclusion, no significant interactions between match location and competition phase were evident during the late competition phase, which suggests that away travel had negligible cumulative effects on the reduction in player wellness in the latter half of the season.

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Muscle injury rate in professional football is higher in matches played within 5 days since the previous match: a 14-year prospective study with more than 130 000 match observations

British Journal of Sports Medicine ◽

10.1136/bjsports-2016-097399 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 52 (17) ◽

pp. 1116-1122 ◽

Cited By ~ 22

Author(s):

Håkan Bengtsson ◽

Jan Ekstrand ◽

Markus Waldén ◽

Martin Hägglund

Keyword(s):

Rate Ratio ◽

Muscle Injury ◽

Injury Rate ◽

Football Players ◽

Professional Football ◽

Short Term ◽

Injury Rates ◽

Reference Category ◽

Individual Player

BackgroundThe association between match congestion and injury rates in professional football has yielded conflicting results.AimTo analyse associations between match congestion on an individual player level and injury rates during professional football matches.MethodsData from a prospective cohort study of professional football with 133 170 match observations were analysed with Poisson regressions. Associations between short-term match congestion, defined as number of days between two match exposures (≤3, 4, 5, 6 and 7–10 days) and injury rates were analysed. To analyse the influence of long-term match congestion, defined as individual match exposure hours in the 30 days preceding a match, observations were categorised into three groups (low, ≤4.5; medium, >4.5 to ≤7.5; and high, >7.5 hours).ResultsNo differences in total match injury rates were found between the reference category (≤3 days) and the other categories of short-term congestion. Muscle injury rates were significantly lower in matches preceded by 6 (rate ratio (RR) 0.79; 95% CI 0.65 to 0.95) or 7–10 days (RR 0.81; 95% CI 0.71 to 0.93) compared with ≤3 days since the last match exposure. No differences in total and muscle injury rates between the three long-term match congestion groups were found.ConclusionsIn this study of male professional football players, there were no match congestion-related differences in total match injury rates, but muscle injury rates during matches were lower when players were given at least 6 days between their match exposures.

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Injury characteristics in Norwegian male professional football: a comparison between a regular season and a season in the pandemic

10.31236/osf.io/7tqnf ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Torstein Dalen-Lorentsen ◽

Thor Einar Andersen ◽

Christian Thorbjørnsen ◽

Michael Brown ◽

David Tovi ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Injury Severity ◽

Injury Incidence ◽

Professional Football ◽

Time Loss ◽

Safe Alternative ◽

Injury Rates ◽

Premier League ◽

Data Comparability ◽

Injury Data ◽

Injury Definition

The Coronavirus Disease-19 (COVID-19) pandemic forced the Norwegian male premier league football season to reschedule, reducing the fixture calendar substantially. Previous research has shown that a congested match schedule can affect injury rates in professional football. Therefore, we aimed to investigate whether the Norwegian premier league teams suffered more injuries in the match congested 2020 season than the regular 2019-season. We invited all teams having participated in both seasons to export their injury data. Only teams that used the same medical staff to register injuries in both seasons were included, and to maximise data comparability between seasons, we applied a time-loss injury definition only. Eight of 13 teams agreed to participate and exported their injury data. The 2020 season was 57 days shorter than the 2019 season. The match injury incidence differed insignificantly (incidence rate ratio 0.76 (0.48 to 1.20; p=0.24) in the 2020 season compared to the 2019 season. Furthermore, we found no differences in the number of injuries, days lost to injury, matches missed to injury, or injury severity. We present the first injury data from a complete post-lockdown professional football season. We could not detect any differences between the two seasons, suggesting the congested match calendar in the 2020 season is a safe alternative in future seasons.

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Epidemiology of time loss groin injuries in a men’s professional football league: a 2-year prospective study of 17 clubs and 606 players

British Journal of Sports Medicine ◽

10.1136/bjsports-2016-097277 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 52 (5) ◽

pp. 292-297 ◽

Cited By ~ 30

Author(s):

Andrea B Mosler ◽

Adam Weir ◽

Cristiano Eirale ◽

Abdulaziz Farooq ◽

Kristian Thorborg ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Prospective Study ◽

Treatment Outcomes ◽

Groin Pain ◽

Descriptive Statistics ◽

Injury Incidence ◽

Professional Football ◽

Time Loss ◽

Match Play ◽

Groin Injury ◽

Individual Training

Background/AimGroin injury epidemiology has not previously been examined in an entire professional football league. We recorded and characterised time loss groin injuries sustained in the Qatar Stars League.MethodsMale players were observed prospectively from July 2013 to June 2015. Time loss injuries, individual training and match play exposure were recorded by club doctors using standardised surveillance methods. Groin injury incidence per 1000 playing hours was calculated, and descriptive statistics used to determine the prevalence and characteristics of groin injuries. The Doha agreement classification system was used to categorise all groin injuries.Results606 footballers from 17 clubs were included, with 206/1145 (18%) time loss groin injuries sustained by 150 players, at an incidence of 1.0/1000 hours (95% CI 0.9 to 1.1). At a club level, 21% (IQR 10%–28%) of players experienced groin injuries each season and 6.6 (IQR 2.9–9.1) injuries were sustained per club per season. Of the 206 injuries, 16% were minimal (1–3 days), 25% mild (4–7 days), 41% moderate (8–28 days) and 18% severe (>28 days), with a median absence of 10 days/injury (IQR 5–22 days). The median days lost due to groin injury per club was 85 days per season (IQR 35–215 days). Adductor-related groin pain was the most common entity (68%) followed by iliopsoas (12%) and pubic-related (9%) groin pain.ConclusionGroin pain caused time loss for one in five players each season. Adductor-related groin pain comprised 2/3 of all groin injuries. Improving treatment outcomes and preventing adductor-related groin pain has the potential to improve player availability in professional football.

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Examining Play Counts and Measurements of Injury Incidence in Youth Football

Journal of Athletic Training ◽

10.4085/1062-6050-52.7.06 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 52 (10) ◽

pp. 955-965 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Zachary Y. Kerr ◽

Susan W. Yeargin ◽

Aristarque Djoko ◽

Sara L. Dalton ◽

Melissa M. Baker ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Outcome Measure ◽

Age Groups ◽

Injury Rate ◽

Football Players ◽

Injury Incidence ◽

Injury Rates ◽

Head Impacts ◽

Youth Football ◽

Rate Ratios ◽

Age Range

Context: Whereas researchers have provided estimates for the number of head impacts sustained within a youth football season, less is known about the number of plays across which such impact exposure occurs.Objective: To estimate the number of plays in which youth football players participated during the 2013 season and to estimate injury incidence through play-based injury rates.Design: Descriptive epidemiology study.Setting: Youth football.Patients or Other Participants: Youth football players (N = 2098; age range, 5−15 years) from 105 teams in 12 recreational leagues across 6 states.Main Outcome Measure(s): We calculated the average number of athlete-plays per season and per game using independent-samples t tests to compare age groups (5–10 years old versus 11–15 years old) and squad sizes (<20 versus ≥20 players); game injury rates per 1000 athlete-exposures (AEs) and per 10 000 athlete-plays; and injury rate ratios (IRRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) to compare age groups.Results: On average, youth football players participated in 333.9 ± 178.5 plays per season and 43.9 ± 24.0 plays per game. Age groups (5- to 10-year-olds versus 11- to 15-year-olds) did not differ in the average number of plays per season (335.8 versus 332.3, respectively; t2086.4 = 0.45, P = .65) or per game (44.1 versus 43.7, respectively; t2092.3 = 0.38, P = .71). However, players from smaller teams participated in more plays per season (373.7 versus 308.0; t1611.4 = 8.15, P < .001) and per game (47.7 versus 41.4; t1523.5 = 5.67, P < .001). Older players had a greater game injury rate than younger players when injury rates were calculated per 1000 AEs (23.03 versus 17.86/1000 AEs; IRR = 1.29; 95% CI = 1.04, 1.60) or per 10 000 athlete-plays (5.30 versus 4.18/10 000 athlete-plays; IRR = 1.27; 95% CI = 1.02, 1.57).Conclusions: A larger squad size was associated with a lower average number of plays per season and per game. Increasing youth football squad sizes may help reduce head-impact exposure for individual players. The AE-based injury rates yielded effect estimates similar to those of play-based injury rates.

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Retrospective Review of Injury Patterns Among Ghanaian Footballers During the 2009-2010 League Season

Journal of Preventive and Rehabilitative Medicine ◽

10.21617/jprm2020.220 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 2 (1) ◽

pp. 61-67

Author(s):

Maxwell Larwch ◽

◽

Jonathan Quartey ◽

Samuel Koranteng Kwakye ◽

◽

...

Keyword(s):

Retrospective Review ◽

Body Part ◽

First Aid ◽

Football Players ◽

Injury Incidence ◽

Professional Football ◽

Mechanism Of Injury ◽

Injury Patterns ◽

Premier League ◽

Mental Demands

BackgroundThe increased popularity of football in addition to the physical and mental demands placed on players increase the risk of soccer injuries. We set out to identify injury patterns among footballers involved in selected Glo sponsored Ghana premier league games during the 2009/2010 season.MethodologyDigital video compact discs (DVDs) of thirty randomly selected 2009/2010 matches were acquired for the study from the Ghana Football Association. A Samsung DVD player and television set were used to playback and watch the matches. The researchers stopped the video immediately an injury occurred and the disc was then put in slow playback movement whilst the occurrence of injury was recorded on an injury report form.All statistical analyses were performed using SPSS version 20.ResultsA total of 139 injuries were recorded during the study with an average injury incidence of 4.63±1.99 injuries per match. Tackling attempts (51.1%) was the predominant mechanism of injury with the ankle (26.6%) being the most injured body part. There was a significant association between player position and number of injuries suffered (p=0.038) and a significant association observed between player position and severity of injuries (p = 0.042). The uses of icepack (34.5%) and vapocoolant spray (32.4%) were the most common first aid treatment for the injuries sustained.ConclusionThe study indicated that professional football players in Ghana are exposed to high injury risks as evident by the relatively high injury incidence. Keywords: Football, footballers,playback, injuries, digital video compact discs

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Prediction of Injury by Limited and Asymmetrical Fundamental Movement Patterns in American Football Players

Journal of Sport Rehabilitation ◽

10.1123/jsr.2012-0130 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 23 (2) ◽

pp. 88-94 ◽

Cited By ~ 88

Author(s):

Kyle B. Kiesel ◽

Robert J. Butler ◽

Philip J. Plisky

Keyword(s):

Motor Control ◽

Relative Risk ◽

Outcome Measure ◽

Movement Patterns ◽

Musculoskeletal Injury ◽

Football Players ◽

Professional Football ◽

Time Loss ◽

Main Outcome Measure ◽

Fundamental Movement Patterns

Context:Previous injury is the strongest risk factor for future injury in sports. It has been proposed that motor-control changes such as movement limitation and asymmetry associated with injury and pain may be perpetuated as part of an individual's movement strategy. Motor control of fundamental 1-×-body-weight tasks can reliably and efficiently be measured in the field.Objective:To determine whether the motor control of fundamental movement patterns and pattern asymmetry have a relationship with time-loss injury over the course of the preseason in professional football.Design:Injury-risk study.Setting:American professional football facilities.Participants:238 American professional football players.Intervention:To measure the motor control of 1-×-body-weight fundamental movement patterns, Functional Movement Screen scores were obtained before the start of training camp. The previously established cutoff score of ≤14 and the presence of any asymmetries on the FMS were examined using relative risk to determine if a relationship exists with time-loss injury.Main Outcome Measure:Time-loss musculoskeletal injury defined as any time loss from practice or competition due to musculoskeletal injury.Results:Players who scored ≤14 exhibited a relative risk of 1.87 (CI95 1.20–2.96). Similarly, players with at least 1 asymmetry displayed a relative risk of 1.80 (CI95 1.11–2.74). The combination of scoring below the threshold and exhibiting a movement asymmetry was highly specific for injury, with a specificity of .87 (CI95 .84–.90).Conclusion:The results of this study suggest that fundamental movement patterns and pattern asymmetry are identifiable risk factors for time-loss injury during the preseason in professional football players.

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Hamstring injuries in elite Gaelic football: an 8-year investigation to identify injury rates, time-loss patterns and players at increased risk

British Journal of Sports Medicine ◽

10.1136/bjsports-2016-096401 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 52 (15) ◽

pp. 982-988 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

Mark Roe ◽

John C Murphy ◽

Conor Gissane ◽

Catherine Blake

Keyword(s):

Management Strategies ◽

Fold Increase ◽

Hamstring Injury ◽

Time Loss ◽

Match Play ◽

Injury Rates ◽

Musculotendinous Junction ◽

Hamstring Injuries ◽

Increased Risk ◽

Prevention Programmes

BackgroundHamstring injuries occur frequently in field sports, yet longitudinal information to guide prevention programmes is missing.AimInvestigate longitudinal hamstring injury rates and associated time loss in elite Gaelic football, while identifying subgroups of players at increased risk.Methods38 data sets from 15 elite male Gaelic football teams were received by the National Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) Injury Surveillance Database between 2008 and 2015. Injury and exposure data were provided by the team's medical staff via an online platform.Results391 hamstring injuries were sustained accounting for 21% (95% CI 20.0% to 21.7%) of all injuries. Prevalence was 21% (95% CI 19.2% to 23.4%). Incidences were 2.2 (95% CI 1.9 to 2.4) per 1000 exposure hours, and 7.0 (95% CI 6.5 to 7.1) times greater in match play than in training. Typically each team sustained 9.0 (95% CI 7.0 to 11.0) hamstring injuries per season affecting the: bicep femoris belly (44%; 95% CI 39.4% to 48.7%); proximal musculotendinous junction (13%; 95% CI 9.8% to 16.3%); distal musculotendinous junction (12%; 95% CI 8.6% to 14.9%) and semimembranosis/semitendinosis belly (9%; 95% CI 6.3% to 11.7%). ∼36% (95% CI 31.5% to 41.0%) were recurrent injuries. Mean time loss was 26.0 (95% CI 21.1 to 33.0) days, which varied with age, injury type and seasonal cycle. Hamstring injuries accounted for 31% (95% CI 25.8% to 38.2%) of injury-related time loss. Previously injured players (rate ratio (RR)=3.3), players aged 18–20 years (IRR=2.3) or >30 years (RR=2.3), as well as defensive (IRR=2.0) and midfield players (RR=1.5), were most at risk of sustaining a hamstring injury. Comparisons of 2008–2011 with 2012–2015 seasons revealed a 2-fold increase in hamstring injury incidences. Between 2008 and 2015 training incidence increased 2.3-fold and match-play incidences increased 1.3-fold.ConclusionsHamstring injuries are the most frequent injury in elite Gaelic football, with incidences increasing from 2008–2011 to 2012–2015. Tailoring risk management strategies to injury history, age and playing position may reduce the burden of hamstring injuries.

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