Variations in definitions and methodologies have created differences in the results and conclusions obtained from studies of football injuries; this has made inter-study comparisons difficult. An Injury Consensus Group was established under the auspices of FIFA 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. Following this meeting, 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. The definitions and methodology proposed in the consensus statement will ensure that consistent and comparable results will be obtained from studies of football injuries.

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 Fédération 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.

Objective-To define the causes of injuries to players in English professional football during competition and training. Method-Lost time injuries to professional and youth players were prospectively recorded by physiotherapists at four English League clubs over the period 1994 to 1997. Data recorded included information related to the injury, date and place of occurrence, type of activity, and extrinsic playing factors. Results-In all, 67% of all injuries occurred during competition. The overall injury frequency rate (IFR) was 8.5 injuries/1000 hours, with the IFR during competition (27.7) being significantly (p<0.01) higher than that during training (3.5). The IFRs for youth players were found to increase over the second half of the season, whereas they decreased for professional players. There were no significant diVerences in IFRs for professional and youth players during training. There were significantly (p<0.01) more injuries in competition in the 15 minute periods at the end of each half. Strains (41%), sprains (20%), and contusions (20%) represented the major types of injury. The thigh (23%), ankle (17%), knee (14%), and lower leg (13%) represented the major locations of injury, with significantly (p<0.01) more injuries to the dominant body side. Reinjury accounted for 22% of all injuries. Only 12% of all injuries were caused by a breach of the rules of football, although player to player contact was involved in 41% of all injuries. Conclusions-The overall level of injury to professional footballers has been shown to be around 1000 times higher than for industrial occupations generally regarded as high risk. The high level of muscle strains, in particular, indicates possible weaknesses in fitness training programmes and use of warming up and cooling down procedures by clubs and the need for benchmarking players' levels of fitness and performance. Increasing levels of injury to youth players as a season progresses emphasises the importance of controlling the exposure of young players to high levels of competition. (Br J Sports Med 1999;33:196-203)

Objectives: To undertake a detailed, large scale epidemiological study of match injuries sustained by professional rugby union players in order to define their incidence, nature, severity, and causes. Methods: A two season prospective design was used to study match injuries associated with 546 rugby union players at 12 English Premiership clubs. Team clinicians reported all match injuries on a weekly basis and provided details of the location, diagnosis, severity, and mechanism of each injury. Match exposures for individual players were recorded on a weekly basis. Loss of time from training and match play was used as the definition of an injury. Results: The overall incidence of injury was 91 injuries/1000 player-hours, and each injury resulted on average in 18 days lost time. Recurrences, which accounted for 18% of injuries, were significantly more severe (27 days) than new injuries (16 days). Thigh haematomas were the most common injury for forwards and backs, but anterior cruciate ligament injuries for forwards and hamstring injuries for backs caused the greatest number of days absence. Contact mechanisms accounted for 72% of injuries, but foul play was only implicated in 6% of injuries. The ruck and maul elements of the game caused most injuries to forwards, and being tackled caused most injuries to backs. The hooker and outside centre were the playing positions at greatest risk of injury. Conclusions: On average, a club will have 18% of their players unavailable for selection as a consequence of match injuries.

The Nordic hamstring strengthening exercise may reduce the incidence and severity of hamstring muscle injuries sustained during training and competition.