High-speed running and sprinting as an injury risk factor in soccer: Can well-developed physical qualities reduce the risk?

Abstract

Exposing players to large and rapid increases in HSR and SR distances increased the odds of injury. However, higher chronic training loads (≥2584 AU) and better intermittent aerobic fitness off-set lower limb injury risk associated with these running distances in elite soccer players.

<p>The Relationship Between Acute: Chronic Workload Ratios and Injury Risk in Sports: A Systematic Review</p>

“…16 The average score of the studies was 59.7% indicating "fair" quality with the lowest score of 48.2% 17 and the highest score of 64.3%. [18][19][20][21][22][23] These lower scores were likely due to the fact that the Downs and Black is typically used to grade randomized control trials, and most of the included studies were cohort studies. This resulted in consistently lower scores in areas of internal validity, specifically questions 14, 15, 19, 23, 24, and 25.…”

“…This resulted in consistently lower scores in areas of internal validity, specifically questions 14, 15, 19, 23, 24, and 25. These questions were subsequently removed in an attempt to calculate a more representative score, resulting in increases of percentage quality scores, ranging from 61.4% 17 to 81.8%, [18][19][20][21][22][23] with a mean of 75.9%, demonstrating "good" quality.…”

Rescheduling Part 2 of the 11+ reduces injury burden and increases compliance in semi‐professional football

“…Our results additionally suggest that rescheduling the exercises in Part 2 so that they are performed more regularly reduces ankle injury incidence, hamstring injury severity, and injury recurrence. We speculate that by significantly reducing the number of severe injuries and reducing time lost to injury, players in the P2 post group returned to training earlier, increased their exposure to the 11+ program as well as to football training, and, in turn, reduced the injury risk caused by de‐training for the most common injuries in football …”

“…We speculate that by significantly reducing the number of severe injuries and reducing time lost to injury, players in the P2 post group returned to training earlier, increased their exposure to the 11+ program as well as to football training, and, in turn, reduced the injury risk caused by de-training for the most common injuries in football. 6,29,[45][46][47] To our knowledge, this study is the first to analyze the injury burden associated with the 11+ program, allowing for an examination beyond injury incidence. 33 A 33% lower injury burden was observed in the P2 post group compared with both the Standard-11+ group and to the 2016 baseline, 6 with the greatest burden reductions associated with the most common injuries (ankle sprains, hamstring, and calf muscle strains) in football.…”

Internal workload and non-contact injury: a one-season study of five teams from the UEFA Elite Club Injury Study

“…This could be explained by the fact that the current study analysed chronic workloads in isolation. It has in fact, been shown in elite football33 that, 3-week chronic workloads ≥2584 AU were protective, but when players also covered a 1-weekly high-speed running (HSR) of 701 m to 750 m. The same 1-weekly HSR distance with low chronic workload (<2584 AU) increased injury risk. This highlights the importance of future studies and practitioners to analyse chronic workloads in conjunction with other parameters such as external running workloads.…”