Epidemiology of Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury in Italian First Division Soccer Players

Abstract

Background: The burden of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury in professional soccer players is particularly relevant as it represents a potentially career-threatening injury. Hypothesis: Our hypotheses were that (1) injury incidence rate would be similar to that reported in the literature, (2) we would identify a uniform distribution of the injuries along the season, and (3) injury incidence rate would be similar in high-ranked and lower ranked teams, based on final placement in the league. Study Design: Descriptive epidemiological study. Level of Evidence: Level 4. Methods: Professional male soccer players participating in the Serie A championship league in 7 consecutive seasons (2011-2012 to 2017-2018) were screened to identify ACL injuries through the online football archive transfermarkt.com . Exposure in matches and training were calculated. Results: There were 84 ACL injuries found (mean player age, 25.3 ± 4.2 years). Overall, 25% of ACL injuries were reruptures (15%) or contralateral injuries (10%). ACL incidence rate was 0.4215 per 1000 hours of play during Serie A matches, 0.0305 per 1000 hours of training (rate ratio [RR], 13.8; 95% CI, 8.4-22.7; P < 0.0001), and 0.0618 per 1000 hours of total play. Injury distribution had a bimodal peak, with the highest number of events in October and March. Alternatively, training injuries peaked in June and July. A significantly higher incidence rate was found for the teams ranked from 1st to 4th place compared with those ranked 5th to 20th (0.1256 vs 0.0559 per 1000 hours of play; RR, 2.2; 95% CI, 1.4-3.6; P = 0.0003). A similar finding was found for injury incidence proportion (3.76% vs 1.64%; P = 0.0003). Conclusion: The overall incidence rate of ACL injuries in Italian Serie A was 0.062 per 1000 hours, with a 14-fold risk in matches compared with training. Relevantly, 25% were second injuries. Most injuries occurred in October and March, and an almost 2-fold incidence rate and incidence proportion were noted in those teams ranked in the first 4 positions of the championship league. Clinical Relevance: Knowing the precise epidemiology of ACL injury in one of the most competitive professional football championship leagues could help delineate fields of research aimed to investigate its risk factors.

Epidemiology of Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury in Soccer Players in the Brazilian Championship

“…A study by Alberto Grassi, published in Sport Health in 2019. 24 showed 0.421 injuries per 1,000 hours played in the first division of the Italian championship, and Waldén et al 12 obtained slightly lower results than those found in our study (0.309 injuries), in the main European leagues, which can still be considered close. We notice a big difference when analyzing the incidences of injury in the first and second divisions of the Brazilian championship separately.…”

The technique of using balls of different weights and diameters for the interrelated development of physical qualities, accuracy of strikes and psychophysiological capabilities of young football players

“…To determine the performance of structured training, identify relationships between indicators of physiological function and performance of physical and technical preparedness correlation analysis was conducted performance testing of athletes control Health, sport, rehabilitation Здоров'я, спорт, реабілітація Здоровье, спорт, реабилитация 7(1) and experimental groups before and after the experiment (Table. [5][6][7][8]. Prior to the experiment, the number of reliable relationships between psychophysiological indicators and indicators of physical and technical preparedness in both the control and experimental groups was 5-6 interconnections (Table 5, 6).…”

“…Complex development of punches accuracy, strength, speed, endurance, agility is also effective for preventing injuries and diseases of football players [7][8][9][10][11][12], for increasing the functional capabilities of vegetative-vascular regulation [13]. The authors of [14] revealed the influence of body size on the effectiveness of the game of football players from different regions and showed that the accuracy of strikes in football is a complex psychomotor function that depends on the morphological characteristics of the players, which determines the development of physical qualities [15].…”

Boost Tendon/Ligament Repair With Biomimetic and Smart Cellular Constructs

“…Among different tendon and ligament, Achilles tendon ( Raikin et al, 2013 ), anterior cruciate ligament ( Grassi et al, 2020 ) and rotator cuff ( Tashjian, 2012 ) showed prominently higher incidents of rupture, which aroused wide interests in the repair of these tissues. And these three kinds of tendon and ligament are particularly important for the body to maintain normal physiological function, it is necessary to choose the appropriate treatment to repair the tendon and ligament to the maximum extent ( Figure 2A ).…”