Adolescent injury prevention programs associated with sports-related injury reduction

Abstract

EDITOR'S NOTE: Studies for this issue were identified using the Clinical Queries feature of PubMed, "hand" searching JAMA Pediatrics, Pediatrics, and The Journal of Pediatrics, and from customized EvidenceUpdates alerts.EBM PEARL: PUBLICATION BIAS: Publication bias, one of the systematic review/meta-analysis-study methodologic validity issues, typically occurs when there is a nonrandom surplus of studies detecting, versus not detecting, statistical significance. Among reasons why "negative" studies may not be published, the most common are researchers and editors declining to publish negative studies. Conclusions drawn from publication-biased systematic reviews/meta-analyses tend to overestimate the effect size. Publication bias may be detected using both statistical and visual means. The funnel-plot method is a visual method, graphing the standard error of each study (y-axis) versus the effect size (x-axis), with higher standard error closer to the x-axis. The larger studies gather at the top of the plot and tend to group together close to the summary effect size. The smaller studies tend to have more scatter at the bottom of the plot. The result is an inverted funnel shape. If the funnel shape is not symmetric (missing some studies on the negative-result side), one presumes some studies were not published. Publication bias may be avoided by requiring registration prior to study initiation. The study by Soomro et al (see piece by R€ ossler and Faude on page 277 regarding Am J Sports Med (2015). pii: 0363546515618372) employed funnel-plot analysis to assess publication bias.LITERATURE SEARCH PEARL: DOCPHIN: Docphin (www.docphin.com) is a free, personalized healthinformation, RSS (really simple syndication)-type network, aggregating information from journals and news sites. The "phin" in Docphin stands for personalized health information network. Physicians developed Docphin in 2010, to cull useful, specialty-specific, up-to-date information from the vast and expanding medical literature. At sign up, users can choose specialty (pediatrics is included) and university. The latter has the advantage of oneclick access to full-length articles. If your university is not listed, you can request that Docphin add it. Docphin collects information from Twitter feeds and various news sites to keep you up-to-date on what your patients may be reading.- Roland R€ ossler, MSc

Effects of a Neuromuscular Warm-Up Program in Youth Female Soccer Players

“…However, younger players can also be exposed to a high risk of sustaining injuries while playing soccer ( Rössler et al, 2016 ), which suggests the importance of implementing injury prevention programs for players aged below 14 years old. Recently, the FIFA 11+ Kids program has been developed and applied in more than 4000 players aged between 7 and 12 years old, leading to a 50% reduction in the number of injuries in relation to control groups ( Rössler and Faude, 2016 ).…”