Incidence of soccer injuries and their relation to training and team success

Abstract

One hundred-eighty players in a male soccer senior division of 12 teams were observed prospectively for 1 year to study the risk of soccer injuries in relation to exposure and to establish the connection between training, injuries, and team success. Totally, more than 100 hours of practice were analyzed. All injuries were examined by the same orthopaedic surgeon. On the average, each team played 36 games and had 95 practice sessions with 66% attendance of selected players. A direct correlation was noted between team success and the amount of training. Teams with more than average training showed a diminishing number of injuries. A high practice-to-game ratio seems to be advantageous. One injury every third game and every ninth practice session was documented. For the individual player the incidence of injury was 7.6/1000 practice hours and 16.9/1000 game hours. The incidence of injury was higher at training camps. Correlation was noted between the design of the training and the incidence of injuries. The duration of warming up seemed adequate, but its content did not appear to be satisfactory from a clinical point of view. Redesign of the warm-up with more emphasis on flexibility and the addition of a cool-down is suggested to reduce injuries.

Comparison of Occurrence of Injuries to Footballers at Low and High Level of Achievement

“…The relatively high incidence of injuries during training was probably due to the bad technique, low fitness and large amount of over training by the high level of achievement footballers. Zelisko et al (1982), Ekstrand et al (1983) and Maughan & Miller (1983) also reported training related injuries in footballers, basketballers and marathon runners and ascribed them to the wrong techniques and poor fitness level of athletes. While comparing the occurrence of injuries between lower and upper limbs, no signifancant differences of injuries were found between the low and the high level of achievement footballers.…”

Should people stretch before exercise?

“…In 1983, Ekstrand et al 6 found that a group of elite soccer teams randomly selected for an intervention of warming up and stretching before exercise; using leg guards and special shoes; taping ankles; and undergoing controlled rehabilitation, education, and close supervision had 75% fewer injuries than the control group. One other RCT and a quasi-experimental study also supported this conclusion, 7,8 and in both studies, at least warming up was a co-intervention. Clinical evidence suggesting that stretching before exercise does not prevent injuries has also been reported.…”

Management and prevention of acute and chronic lateral ankle instability in athletic patient populations

“…Conversely, other investigations have not found [39] , while others have demonstrated a decreased risk among higher-skill level soccer players than their lower-skill level counterparts [43,47] . Other variables likely contribute to such differences seen between the different skill level cohorts, such as more match exposure and higher collective numbers of athlete-exposures [42] , higher match-to-training ratio [48] , and a lower warm-up or stretching period [48][49][50] .…”