Injury Profiles in Korean Youth Soccer

Abstract

We aimed to analyze injury profiles and injury severity in Korean youth soccer players. Data on all injuries that occurred in U-15 youth soccer players during the 2019 season were collected from 681 players of 22 teams through a medical questionnaire. The questionnaire was based on injury surveillance procedures of the Federation International de Football Association Medical and Research Centre and International Olympic Committee, and it comprised questions on demographic characteristics, training conditions, and injury information. Among all players, defenders accounted for 33.0%, followed by attackers (30.7%), midfielders (26.8%), and goalkeepers (7.9%). Most players played soccer on artificial grounds (97.4%). Injuries occurred more frequently during training (56.3%) than during matches (43.7%). Recurrent injury rate was 4.4% and average days to return to full activities were 22.58. The ankle (26.6%) and knee joints (14.1%) were the most common injury locations, and ligament sprains (21.0%), contusions (15.6%), and fractures (13.9%) were the most frequent injury types. In conclusion, Korean youth soccer players have a high injury risk. Therefore, researchers and coaching staff need to consider these results as a key to prevent injuries in youth soccer players and injury prevention programs may help decrease injury rate by providing injury management.

Incidence, prevalence and risk factors for low back pain in adolescent athletes: a systematic review and meta-analysis

“…There was no agreement between studies on LBP definition used, but the definitions of pain and injury could be grouped into five main areas. A total of 18 studies used time loss from training/competition or impaired ability to participate as part of the definition 20–38. There was a specific duration of pain in three studies 22 39 40.…”

“…There was a specific duration of pain in three studies 22 39 40. Treatment from a doctor or physiotherapist was used to define an injury in five studies 16 30 41–43. A specific pain frequency per week was used in two studies 44 45.…”

The most common injuries, rehabilitation and recovery among soccer practitioners

“…Not all authors agreed with these results. Some [20,23,25,26,27] indicated injuries without the participation of third parties as the most frequent, others [20,23,28] observed more frequent injuries during training than during the match. It is important to pay attention to the differences in the study groups, because amateur footballers spend fewer hours in training than professional footballers.…”

“…They usually indicated an ankle sprain as the most common injury in soccer [4,5,6,7,17,18,19]. Other authors included microinjuries in their results [20,21,22] and in these cases reported micro-injuries as the most common or as frequent as sprains. the differences between the studies may result from the diversity of the study groups and the non-uniform definition of the word "sports injury".…”

Predictive Modeling of Injury Risk Based on Body Composition and Selected Physical Fitness Tests for Elite Football Players

“…From the clinical standpoint, the literature describes the lower limbs as the most affected body zone by sports injuries [ 4 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 ], particularly for muscle injuries in the thigh area, the quadriceps, and the groin [ 4 , 10 , 15 , 16 ]. Since injuries in professional soccer are an increasingly problem, it is crucial that the work done in training sessions reflects the demands of competition, aiming at the development of athletes’ performance, which includes injury prevention [ 17 , 18 , 19 ].…”