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

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.

Definition of the lower extremity overuse: A review

Injuries of the lower extremity overuse are common among different adult populations with high physical demands such as athletes and soldiers. Contradiction exists among used different definitions of overuse injury. Objective: to identify most common overuse injury definition and propose overuse injury criteria based on recent literature review. Methods: literature review of the most recent literature about lower extremity overuse injuries published between 2013 and June 2018. Studies retrieved through MEDLINE, PubMEd and ScienceDirect, applying inclusion and exclusion criteria and language restrictions. Results: 18 articles met all inclusion criteria out of 2995 articles screened. Included research populations are different sport athletes (n = 11) and soldiers (n = 5). Most studies described such overuse injuries as lower extremity stress fractures (n = 10) and Achilles tendinopathy (n = 7). Most reported overuse injury definition – injury due to large amount of physical activity training (n = 8) or repetitive micro-trauma (n = 4), Conclusions: lower extremity overuse injury is an injury due to high physical load because of incomplete repair process and with gradual onset. Important criteria for defining overuse injury include absence of known single traumatic event, progressive symptoms and lack of recovery period.

What Is Injury in Ice Hockey: An Integrative Literature Review on Injury Rates, Injury Definition, and Athlete Exposure in Men’s Elite Ice Hockey

Injuries in men’s elite ice hockey have been studied over the past 40 years, however, there is a lack of consensus on definitions of both injury and athlete exposure. These inconsistencies compromise the reliability and comparability of the research. While many individual studies report injury rates in ice hockey, we are not aware of any literature reviews that have evaluated the definitions of injury and athlete exposure in men’s elite ice hockey. The purpose of this integrative review was to investigate the literature on hockey musculoskeletal injury to determine injury rates and synthesize information about the definitions of injury and athlete exposure. Injury rates varied from 13.8/1000 game athlete exposures to 121/1000 athlete exposures as measured by player-game hours. The majority of variability between studies is explained by differences in the definitions of both injury and athlete exposure. We were unable to find a consensus injury definition in elite ice hockey. In addition, we were unable to observe a consistent athlete exposure metric. We recommend that a consistent injury definition be adopted to evaluate injury risk in elite ice hockey. We recommend that injuries should be defined by a strict list that includes facial lacerations, dental injuries, and fractures. We also recommend that athlete exposure should be quantified using player-game hours.

Clinical trials for pediatric traumatic brain injury: definition of insanity?

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in children both in the United States and throughout the world. Despite valiant efforts and multiple clinical trials completed over the last few decades, there are no high-level recommendations for pediatric TBI available in current guidelines. In this review, the authors explore key findings from the major pediatric clinical trials in children with TBI that have shaped present-day recommendations and the insights gained from them. The authors also offer a perspective on potential efforts to improve the efficacy of future clinical trials in children following TBI.