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Background: Soccer injuries are common, and athletes returning to play after injury are especially at risk. Few studies have investigated how to prevent reinjury. Hypothesis: The rate of reinjury is reduced using a coach-controlled rehabilitation program. Study Design: Randomized controlled trial; Level of evidence, 1. Methods: Twenty-four male amateur soccer teams were randomized into an intervention (n = 282) and control group (n = 300). The intervention was implemented by team coaches and consisted of information about risk factors for reinjury, rehabilitation principles, and a 10-step progressive rehabilitation program including return to play criteria. During the 2003 season, coaches reported individual exposure and all time loss injuries were evaluated by a doctor and a physiotherapist. Four teams (n = 100) withdrew from the study after randomization, leaving 10 teams with 241 players for analysis in both groups. Results: There were 90 injured players (132 injuries) in the intervention group, and 10 of these (11%) suffered 14 reinjuries during the season. In the control group, 23 of 79 injured players (29%) had 40 recurrences (134 injuries). A Cox regression analysis showed a 66% reinjury risk reduction in the intervention group for all injury locations (hazard ratio [HR] 0.34, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.16–0.72, P = .0047) and 75% for lower limb injuries (HR 0.25, 95% CI 0.11–0.57, P < .001). The preventive effect was greatest within the first week of return to play. Injured players in the intervention group complied with the intervention for 90 of 132 injuries (68%). Conclusion: The reinjury rate in amateur male soccer players was reduced after a controlled rehabilitation program implemented by coaches.

The risk of injury in football is high, but few studies have compared men's and women's football injuries. The purpose of this prospective study was to analyse the exposure and injury characteristics of European Championships in football and to compare data for men, women and male youth players. The national teams of all 32 countries (672 players) that qualified to the men's European Championship 2004, the women's European Championship 2005 and the men's Under-19 European Championship 2005 were studied. Individual training and match exposure was documented during the tournaments as well as time loss injuries. The overall injury incidence was 14 times higher during match play than during training (34.6 vs. 2.4 injuries per 1000 h, P < 0.0001). There were no differences in match and training injury incidences between the championships. Teams eliminated in the women's championship had a significantly higher match injury incidence compared to teams going to the semi-finals (65.4 vs. 5.0 injuries per 1000 h, P = 0.02). Non-contact mechanisms were ascribed for 41% of the match injuries. One-fifth of all injuries were severe with absence from play longer than 4 weeks. In conclusion, injury incidences during the European Championships studied were very similar and it seems thus that the risk of injury in international football is at least not higher in women than in men. The teams eliminated in the women's championship had a significantly higher match injury incidence than the teams going to the final stage. Finally, the high frequency of non-contact injury is worrying from a prevention perspective and should be addressed in future studies.

Background: Previous injury is often proposed to be a risk factorfor football injury, but most studies rely on players reportingtheir own medical history and are thus potentially subject torecall bias. Little is known about the natural variation ininjury pattern between seasons. Objectives: To study whether prospectively recorded injuriesduring one season are associated with injuries sustained duringthe following season, and to compare injury risk and injurypattern between consecutive seasons. Methods: The medical staffs of 12 elite Swedish male footballteams prospectively recorded individual exposure and time lossinjuries over two full consecutive seasons (2001 and 2002).A multivariate model was used to determine the relation betweenprevious injury, anthropometric data, and the risk of injury. Results: The training and match injury incidences were similarbetween seasons (5.1 v 5.3 injuries/1000 training hours and25.9 v 22.7/1000 match hours), but analysis of injury severityand injury patterns showed variations between seasons. Playerswho were injured in the 2001 season were at greater risk ofany injury in the following season compared with non-injuredplayers (hazard ratio 2.7; 95% confidence interval 1.7 to 4.3,p<0.0001). Players with a previous hamstring injury, groininjury, and knee joint trauma were two to three times more likelyto suffer an identical injury in the following season, whereasno such relation was found for ankle sprain. Age was not associatedwith an increased injury risk. Conclusions: This study confirmed previous results showing thatprevious injury is an important risk factor for football injury.Overall injury incidences were similar between consecutive seasons,indicating that an injury surveillance study covering one fullseason can provide a reasonable overview of the injury problemamong elite football players in a specific environment. However,a prolonged study period is recommended for analyses of specificinjury patterns.

OBJECTIVE: To compare injury risk in elite football played on artificial turf compared with natural grass. DESIGN: Prospective two-cohort study. SETTING: Male European elite football leagues. PARTICIPANTS: 290 players from 10 elite European clubs that had installed third-generation artificial turf surfaces in 2003-4, and 202 players from the Swedish Premier League acting as a control group. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Injury incidence. RESULTS: The incidence of injury during training and match play did not differ between surfaces for the teams in the artificial turf cohort: 2.42 v 2.94 injuries/1000 training hours and 19.60 v 21.48 injuries/1000 match hours for artificial turf and grass respectively. The risk of ankle sprain was increased in matches on artificial turf compared with grass (4.83 v 2.66 injuries/1000 match hours; rate ratio 1.81, 95% confidence interval 1.00 to 3.28). No difference in injury severity was seen between surfaces. Compared with the control cohort who played home games on natural grass, teams in the artificial turf cohort had a lower injury incidence during match play (15.26 v 23.08 injuries/1000 match hours; rate ratio 0.66, 95% confidence interval 0.48 to 0.91). CONCLUSIONS: No evidence of a greater risk of injury was found when football was played on artificial turf compared with natural grass. The higher incidence of ankle sprain on artificial turf warrants further attention, although this result should be interpreted with caution as the number of ankle sprains was low., Original Publication:Jan Ekstrand, Toomas Timpka and Martin Hägglund, Risk of injury in elite football played on artificial turf versus natural grass: a prospective two-cohort study, 2006, British journal of sports medicine, (40), 12, 975-80.http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bjsm.2006.027623Copyright: BMJ Publishing Grouphttp://group.bmj.com

BACKGROUND: Variations in definitions and methodologies have created differences in the results and conclusions obtained from studies of football (soccer) injuries; this has made interstudy comparisons difficult. PROCEDURE: An Injury Consensus Group was established under the auspices of Fédération Internationale de Football Association Medical Assessment and Research Centre. Using a nominal group consensus model approach, a working document that identified the key issues related to definitions, methodology, and implementation was discussed by members of the group during a 2-day meeting. After this meeting, iterative draft statements were prepared and circulated to the members of the group for comment before the final consensus statement was produced. RESULTS: Definitions of injury, recurrent injury, severity, and training and match exposures in football, together with criteria for classifying injuries in terms of location, type, diagnosis, and causation are proposed. Proforma for recording players' baseline information, injuries, and training and match exposures are presented. Recommendations are made on how the incidence of match and training injuries should be reported and a checklist of issues and information that should be included in published reports of studies of football injuries is presented. CONCLUSIONS: The definitions and methodology proposed in the consensus statement will ensure that consistent and comparable results will be obtained from studies of football injuries.

Every fifth unintentional injury treated at a healthcare facility in the industrialised part of the world is associated with sports or physical exercise. This article reviews the literature regarding the theoretical and practical underpinnings for community-based sports safety promotion, including both professional and recreational sports. While injury prevention entails the implementation of specific interventions in terms of structural or educational measures, sports safety promotion includes also the antecedent and wider campaigns that are required to succeed with these measures. Comprehensive sports safety promotion programmes thus require that the perspective on the sports injury problem is made broader than consideration of the individual athlete. The results display that involvement in sports safety issues from the sports federations that formulate policies and allocate resources is necessary for coordinated implementation of programme actions. The authorities responsible for sports facilities and legislations in the civil society also need to be included, because of the fact that they control many of the central safety determinants in the sporting environment. It is concluded that the sports injury problem needs to be addressed in liaison with the leaders of socially defined sports communities and the governments representing geographically defined civic communities, and that the safety-supporting environment in professional sports is underdeveloped compared with other areas of working life. © 2006 Adis Data Information BV. All rights reserved.

Variations in definitions and methodologies have created differences in the results and conclusions obtained from studies of football (soccer) injuries, making interstudy comparisons difficult. Therefore an Injury Consensus Group was established under the auspices of Federation Internationale de Football Association Medical Assessment and Research Centre. A nominal group consensus model approach was used. A working document on definitions, methodology, and implementation was discussed by the group. Iterative draft statements were prepared and circulated to members of the group for comment before the final consensus statement was produced. Definitions of injury, recurrent injury, severity, and training and match exposures in football together with criteria for classifying injuries in terms of location, type, diagnosis, and causation are proposed. Proforma for recording players' baseline information, injuries, and training and match exposures are presented. Recommendations are made on how the incidence of match and training injuries should be reported and a checklist of issues and information that should be included in published reports of studies of football injuries is presented.

Background: No previous study on adult football involving severaldifferent countries has investigated the incidence and patternof injuries at the highest club competitive level. Objective: To investigate the risk exposure, risk of injury,and injury pattern of footballers involved in UEFA ChampionsLeague and international matches during a full football season. Method: Eleven top clubs (266 players) in five European countrieswere followed prospectively throughout the season of 2001–2002.Time-lost injuries and individual exposure times were recordedduring all club and national team training sessions and matches. Results: A total of 658 injuries were recorded. The mean (SD)injury incidence was 9.4 (3.2) injuries per 1000 hours (30.5(11.0) injuries per 1000 match hours and 5.8 (2.1) injuriesper 1000 training hours). The risk of match injury was significantlyhigher in the English and Dutch teams than in the teams fromFrance, Italy, and Spain (41.8 (3.3) v 24.0 (7.9) injuries per1000 hours; p = 0.008). Major injuries (absence >4 weeks)constituted 15% of all injuries, and the risk of major injurywas also significantly higher among the English and Dutch teams(p = 0.04). National team players had a higher match exposure,with a tendency towards a lower training injury incidence thanthe rest of the players (p = 0.051). Thigh strain was themost common injury (16%), with posterior strains being significantlymore common than anterior ones (67 v 36; p<0.0001). Conclusions: The risk of injury in European professional footballis high. The most common injury is the thigh strain typicallyinvolving the hamstrings. The results suggest that regionaldifferences may influence injury epidemiology and traumatology,but the factors involved are unclear. National team playershave a higher match exposure, but no higher risk of injury thanother top level players.

[No abstract available]

We performed combined internal and external anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction with the iliotibial band autograft in 169 consecutive patients with chronic ACL insufficiency who were followed up for 24-61 months. Of these, 155 (91%) agreed to an additional independent observer follow-up after 24-92 months. Eight patients (5%) had sustained a rerupture/elongation of the graft and were operated on again, nine (6%) had sustained a tear of the contralateral ACL. Knee function and activity increased after the reconstruction. Lysholm scores improved from median 81 preoperatively to 99 at follow-up and Tegner scores from median 4 to 7. At follow-up 97 (71%) were active at the same level as prior to injury. In 17 of the 40 patients (12%) dropping to a lower activity level this was due to knee problems. The side-to-side difference in anterior-posterior knee laxity was more than 3 mm in 18 knees (13%) and more than 5 mm in 3 knees (2%). Including eight reruptures, this results in a "stability" failure rate of 8.8%. The overall IKCD rating showed normal knee function in 88 (73%) and nearly normal knee function in 30 (25%). Anterior knee pain was present in 14 (10%) of the patients at follow-up. Patients with isolated ACL injury had higher Lysholm scores and Tegner scores than patients with associated injuries. No clinical signs of varus knee development were seen. Of the 155 patients 94% would have the procedure repeated if necessary with the knowledge that they have today. The combined internal and external iliotibial band procedure can restore knee stability and function in the majority of chronic ACL-insufficient knees.

J. Ekstrand, and S Ringborg: Surgery versus conservative treatment in soccer players with chronic groin pain: A prospective randomised study in soccer players. Eur.J. Sports Traumatol. rel, res. 23:141-145,2001. We compared surgery with conservative treatment in 66 soccer players with chronic groin pain and verified pathology in the form of incipient hernia at hemiography and/or positive nerve block test of the ilioinguinal or iliohypogastric nerves. The patients were randomised into 4 groups: surgery, individual training, physiotherapy and controls. All were evaluated preoperatively and postoperatively at 3 and 6 months using a Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) regarding pain on coughing, jogging, sprinting, kicking and sit-ups. The patients in the non-surgery groups were offered crossover to surgery after 3-6 months if their symptoms persisted. The control-group in our study did not show any change in their symptoms during the six-month follow-up period. This would imp v that expectation alone does not help these patients since the chronic groin pain did not disappear spontaneously. Conventional conservative treatment had little or no effect on the symptoms. Neither individual training nor treatment with NSAID and physiotherapy had effect on the pain apart from a minor decrease in pain on jogging, sprinting and kicking at 3 months. At 6 months there was no difference in any variable between the controls and the groups who received conservative treatment. The patients who underwent surgery had significantly less pain in all variables throughout the follow-up period. The superiority of surgery over conservative or no treatment was further emphasised in the crossover test. (C)2001, Editrice Kurtis.

One hundred and thirty-two consecutive soccer players (117 males and 15 females, median age 23, range 16-39 years) underwent primary reconstruction of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) with an iliotibial band (ITB) autograft. AU patients were followed prospectively for a minimum of 2 years. One hundred and eighteen patients (89%) attended an independent observer follow-up after a median of 47 (24-92) months. The time before participating in soccer was a median of 7 (5-24) months. At a median of 4 years, 80 (68%) mere still active soccer players, while 38 had changed activity to a lower level. Twenty-five gave up soccer playing for reasons unrelated to the knee, and 13 (11%) gave up due to problems from the reconstructed knee. The Lysholm score improved from a median of 82 (range 42-99, mean [SD] 80.5 [+/-11.9]) points prior to the operation to a median of 99 (range 57-100, mean [SD] 94.6 [+/-8.5]) at followup. The Tegner score improved from a median of 3.5 (0-7) preoperatively to 9 (1-10), Four patients (3%) sustained a rupture of the graft: three ruptures occurred among the 15 females (20%), and one was seen among the 117 males (0.8%) (P=0.01). Eight per cent had predominantly minor cosmetic complaints from the donor-site hernia, while 51% had temporary discomfort from the staples used for graft fixation. Using the ITB autograft for ACL reconstruction, we found excellent and good results in soccer players with ACL deficiency and high demands for optimal knee function. The failure rate in general was comparable with other methods, and the majority was still active in soccer sports at a median of 4 years after surgery, An unacceptably high rerupture rate was registered in female players.