Injury patterns differ with age in male youth football: a four-season prospective study of 1111 time-loss injuries in an elite national academy

Abstract

ObjectivesTo describe age group patterns for injury incidence, severity and burden in elite male youth football.MethodsProspective cohort study capturing data on individual exposure and time-loss injuries from training and matches over four seasons (2016/2017 through 2019/2020) at a national football academy (U13–U18; age range: 11–18 years). Injury incidence was calculated as the number of injuries per 1000 hours, injury severity as the median number of days lost and injury burden as the number of days lost per 1000 hours.ResultsWe included 301 players (591 player-seasons) and recorded 1111 time-loss injuries. Overall incidence was 12.0 per 1000 hours (95% CI 11.3 to 12.7) and burden was 255 days lost per 1000 hours (252 to 259). The mean incidence for overall injuries was higher in the older age groups (7.8 to 18.6 injuries per 1000 hours), while the greatest burden was observed in the U16 age group (425 days; 415 to 435). In older age groups, incidence and burden were higher for muscle injuries and lower for physis injuries. Incidence of joint sprains and bone stress injuries was greatest for players in the U16, U17 and U18 age groups, with the largest burden observed for U16 players. No clear age group trend was observed for fractures.ConclusionInjury patterns differed with age; tailoring prevention programmes may be possible.

Ankle Injuries in Soccer Players: A Narrative Review

“…Respectively, the percentage of players who had a re-injury was 12%. Therefore, the overall occupancy of athletes decreased to 85.1% for training and 89.6% for matches [10].…”

“…At the same time, the age that athletes go through is characterized by periods of rapid growth and maturation of collagen tissue. Therefore, during adolescence, excessive strain on athletes contributes to increased injury rates in various anatomical areas of the body [10].…”

“…At the same time, the most common anatomical areas of injury were recorded in adolescent soccer players. Specifically, the lower extremities show the highest epidemiological incidence of injury (83%), followed by the upper extremities (9%), the trunk (6%), and the head -the neck (2%) [10].…”

“…Injuries to the hamstrings muscles and ankle sprains have a high epidemiological frequency, reflecting the intense nature of the sport [10]. The highest epidemiological frequency occurs in muscle injuries -fractures (three injuries per 1000 hours).…”

“…The highest epidemiological frequency occurs in muscle injuries -fractures (three injuries per 1000 hours). However, the effects of sprains on the ankle joint are more significant than muscle injuries due to the higher abstinence in days from the sport [10].…”