Association of Soccer and Genu Varum in Adolescents

Abstract

Background:Genu varum is a physical deformity marked by bowing of the leg. One of the risk factors of this musculoskeletal alignment is stress on the knee joint such as with exercise.Objectives:Since the evaluation of genu varum has not been widely studies, this study was conducted to examine the association between genu varum and playing soccer.Materials and Methods:Between Septembers 2010-2012, 750 soccer players and 750 non-soccer players 10-18 years of age were included in the study. A questionnaire of data including age, height, weight, body mass index (BMI), years of soccer participation, the average time of playing soccer per week, previous trauma to the lower limbs, history of any fractures of the knee, previous hospitalizations, and the distance of joint lines between the knees was assessed for all subjects. Chi-square, student t-test, and one-way ANOVA were used for statistical analysis by SPSS v.19.0 software. In all tests, a P value of less than 0.05 was construed as statistically significant.Results:Both soccer players and controls had genu varum. However, the incidence of genu varum was higher in the soccer players (P = 0.0001) and it was more prevalent in the 16-18 year age group (P = 0.0001). The results revealed a statistically significant association between the degree of practices and the prevalence of genu varum (P = 0.0001). Moreover, previous trauma to the knees and practicing in load-bearing sports led to an increase in the degree of genu varum (P = 0.0001).Conclusions:There was a higher incidence of genu varum in soccer players than in control adolescents; the stress and load imposed on the knee joint led to more severe genu varum.

Bowlegs and Intensive Football Training in Children and Adolescents

“…For instance, Witvrouw et al (16), unlike the authors of the other studies, used movable footplates to avoid (14) control group comprised boys of the same age who were not especially active, while that of Witvrouw et al (16) was made up of adolescents who played other sports at a similar level of intensity. Asadi et al (13) divided their control group into subgroups based on the number of hours of football per week together with other sporting activity. Finally, given that the studies were carried out in different countries, the measured values may have been influenced by unquantified ethnic and sociocultural differences among the study groups.…”

“…Four of the five fulfilled the above-mentioned criteria for meta-analysis and had basically comparable methods of measuring ICD/ IMD (13,14,16,17). The study by Colyn et al (15) could not be analyzed together with these four publications because of its differing (radiographic) method of measurement ( Table 2).…”

“…The methodically sound study by Yaniv et al (17) could not be used for quantitative evaluation due to the absence of standard deviations. The remaining three studies (13,14,16) contained all the data required for meta-analysis.…”

“…Independently, the cleated shoes worn by footballers restrict external rotation in the stance phase and increase the varus load on the knee joint (31). Some authors are of the opinion that the adductor muscles are a decisive factor in the development of varus deformity (13,16,17). Relevant injuries are more likely (56%) to affect the leg predominantly used for shooting (32).…”

“…It is even highly probable that genu varum is an independent risk factor for the initial onset of knee osteoarthritis (11,12). Several pathomechanisms have been proposed as causes of football-associated genu varum, e.g., muscular dysequilibrium and asymmetric overloading of the growth plates (13)(14)(15)(16)(17). Overall, however, little in the way of epidemiological or biomechanical data is available on this potential consequence of intensive football playing during the growth phase.…”