A comparison of injuries in elite male and female football players: A five‐season prospective study

Abstract

Funding informationVice-Chancellorship for Basque of the University of the Basque Country UPV/ EHU (Euskararen arloko Errektoreordetza) The aim was to compare the epidemiology of injuries between elite male and female football players from the same club. Injuries and individual exposure time in a male team and a female team, both playing in the Spanish first division, were prospectively recorded by the club's medical staff for five seasons (2010)(2011)(2012)(2013)(2014)(2015) following the FIFA consensus statement. Total, training, and match exposure hours per playerseason were 20% higher for men compared to women (P<.01). Total, training, and match injury incidence were 30%-40% higher in men (P≤.04) mainly due to a 4.82 (95% confidence interval [CI] 2.30-10.08) times higher incidence of contusions, as there were no differences in the incidence of muscle and joint/ligament injuries (P≥.44). The total number of absence days was 21% larger in women owing to a 5.36 (95% CI 1.11-25.79) times higher incidence of severe knee and ankle ligament injuries. Hamstring strains and pubalgia cases were 1.93 (95% CI 1.16-3.20) and 11.10 (95% CI 1.48-83.44) times more frequent in men, respectively; whereas quadriceps strains, anterior cruciate ligament ruptures, and ankle syndesmosis injuries were 2.25 (95% CI 1.22-4.17), 4.59 (95% CI 0.93-22.76), and 5.36 (95% CI 1.11-25.79) times more common in women, respectively. In conclusion, prevention strategies should be tailored to the needs of male and female football players, with men more predisposed to hamstring strains and hip/groin injuries, and women to quadriceps strains and severe knee and ankle ligament injuries.

Epidemiology of injuries in professional football: a systematic review and meta-analysis

“…The search process identified 44 articles (resulting in 56 cohort groups as seven studies had more than one group) that met the inclusion criteria 8–10 13 15–19 21 33–66 Figure 1. shows the flow chart of the selection process of the studies.…”

A Longitudinal Investigation of Muscle Injuries in an Elite Spanish Male Academy Soccer Club: A Hamstring Injuries Approach

“…Data collection was performed by the strength and conditioning coach of each team and was supervised by the same head fitness coach for all three seasons. The club's medical staff (i.e., one team doctor, two physiotherapists and one on-field rehab fitness coach) diagnosed all time-loss injuries, and it was the responsible for the entire rehabilitation process [22]. Individual player exposure time in training and matches (friendly and official) was recorded daily in hours [22].…”

“…The club's medical staff (i.e., one team doctor, two physiotherapists and one on-field rehab fitness coach) diagnosed all time-loss injuries, and it was the responsible for the entire rehabilitation process [22]. Individual player exposure time in training and matches (friendly and official) was recorded daily in hours [22]. Injuries were registered on a computerized standard report based on the instruction manuals created for the UEFA studies [20].…”

Epidemiology of Primary Anterior Cruciate Ligament Ruptures in Men and Women

“…Finally, we find the studies conducted in 2018 and 2017, the most recent articles in which there is a more general view and the causes coincide on the types of injuries that predominated between men and women [5,11].…”

“…Two of the studies used corpses to carry out the research, in one of them the average age is 41.55 [5] while in the other one is 31.5 [10]. For the study conducted in 2017, 85 athletes with an average age of 25 were selected [11]. In the one about the menstrual cycle related to laxity and stiffness, 26 healthy women were selected for the study, of which we don't know the age because it was not mentioned in the article [9].…”