Results of 2 Decades of Injury Surveillance and Public Release of Data in the Australian Football League

Abstract

Annual public reporting (by way of media release and reports available freely online) of injury rates, using units easily understood by laypeople, has been well received. It has also paved the way for rule changes with the primary goal of improving player safety.

Activation of the hip adductor muscles varies during a simulated weight-bearing task

“…(AFL) recently reported that groin strains / osteitis pubis had the second highest incidence of all injuries, 36 averaging 3.2 new injuries and 12.3 missed matches per club per season (Orchard, Seward, & Orchard, 2013).…”

ANTERIOR CRUCIATE LIGAMENT RECONSTRUCTION & THE HAMSTRINGS Implications for injury prevention & rehabilitation

“…Early research by Seward and colleagues (1993) showed that 34 % of HSIs sustained in professional Australian football and rugby codes were recurrences (Seward, Orchard, Hazard, & Collinson, 1993). Recent research in Australian football has shown that HSI recurrence rates remain a major problem (Orchard et al, 2013), although the rate has declined in recent years, presumably because of a more cautious approach to treatment and greater recovery time following injury (Orchard & Seward, 2010). The high recurrence rates in several sports suggest rehabilitation practices are suboptimal for reducing the risk of future HSI.…”

“…In the Australian Football League, ACL injury has accounted for 12.1 games missed per club per season over the past 10 years, second only to hamstring strain injury (21.1 games per club per season) (Orchard et al, 2013). Furthermore, the incidence rate of one new ACL injury per club per season is low (Orchard et al, 2013), although, an ACL injury typically requires a minimum of 9 to 12 months out of sport for complete recovery (Ardern, Webster, Taylor, & Feller, 2011a;Ardern, Webster, Taylor, & Feller, 2011b;Webster, Feller, & Whitehead, 2017), so these injuries are markedly more severe than hamstring strains as they result in a longer time out of sport and have more severe long term implications such as knee osteoarthritis. The highest frequencies of ACL injury are in intermittent-sprint team sports that involve pivoting, cutting, sudden deceleration, jumping and landing (Bahr & Krosshaug, 2005;Boden, Dean, Feagin, & Garrett, 2000;Renstrom et al, 2008).…”

“…For example, in the Australian football league, HSIs cost each club an average of AUD$1.5m per season in wages paid to side-lined players (Orchard, Seward, & Orchard, 2013). It is also possible that the common hamstring graft reconstruction technique leaves athletes more prone to HSI.…”

“…Similarly, HSIs cost sport organisations millions of dollars (Verrall et al, 2006;Woods et al, 2002). For example, in the Australian football league they cost each club an average of AUD$1.5 million per season in wages paid to side-lined players (Orchard et al, 2013). In elite sport, ACL reconstructions are almost always considered essential for restoring adequate knee joint stability (Ardern et al, 2011a;Liow, McNicholas, Keating, & Nutton, 2003), and they usually involve one of two autogenous grafts harvested from either the ipsilateral ST and gracilis or the patellar tendon (Ardern et al, 2010;Paterno et al, 2010;Pinczewski et al, 2007).…”