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PR. Long-term outcome of knee and ankle injuries in elite football. Scand J Med Sci Sports 1999: 9: 285-289. 0 Munksgaard, 1999 To estimate the risk and evaluate the long-term outcome of knee and ankle injuries in former national team elite football, 69 players were randomly selected, followed by clinical and stress radiographic examinations. Thirthy-nine players (49 knees) had had knee injuries and 29 ankle injuries (35 ankles). The median time from injury until study examination was 25 years. The knee injuries were tears of the medial collateral ligament (MCL) in 24 cases combined with rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and meniscus lesions in three. Meniscus lesions had occurred in 17 cases including three combined with ACL and MCL and another two with ACL ruptures. Isolated rupture of the ACL had occurred in four cases. The ankle lesions were in 26 of 35 cases ruptures of the lateral ligaments. In all, 12 players had completely stopped football and three had changed occupation. Signs of arthritis were present in 63% of the injured knees and in 33% of the injured ankles. The incidence of arthritis in the group of 17 uninjured players was 26% in the knee and 18% the ankle. In elite football players knee and ankle injuries seem to have a serious longterm outcome, but also uninjured players have a higher risk of developing arthritis than the normal population.Football causes many knee and ankle injuries and we know a lot about the trauma mechanism, but very little about the long-term outcome and social costs (1, 2). Therefore, we made a retrospective study with clinical and radiographical examinations of football players who had been highly physically active and played for the Danish national team. The purpose was to estimate the risk of knee and ankle injuries and to evaluate the long-term outcome. Material and methodsInclusion criteria were an age of 30 years or more and all had to have played for the Danish national football team. By means of random numbers (Geigy), the players were selected from a list obtained from the Danish National Football Association without any information about possible injuries of the individual player. An injury was defined as a trauma followed by pain and/or swelling and leading to examination by a physician. Further, the injury had to be sustained before or at the time, when they played for the national team. Seventy-five players were selected, but four players did not want to participate or could not be traced, and two had suffered subsequent new knee or ankle injuries and were excluded. Thus, the material includes 69 players of whom 52 had had injuries. The team positions were 24 frontfield players, 19 midfield, 20 backfield and 8 goalkeepers. The median age at the examination was for all players 51 years (range 30-74). The remaining 17 non-injured players were used as controls to evaluate the "normal" stress upon the joints. The median age in this group was 52 years (range 31-73).All players completed a questionnaire including the number, time, circumstances and ty...

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