The incidence of anterior cruciate ligament injury in youth and male soccer athletes: an evaluation of 17,108 players over two consecutive seasons with an age-based sub-analysis

Abstract

Purpose To evaluate the incidence of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries in male athletes from professional soccer clubs over two consecutive seasons (2018-2019) with a sub-analysis based on age category: under-13 (U-13), under-15 (U-15), under-17 (U-17), and under-20 (U-20) years. Methods A total of 17,108 young male soccer players were retrospectively reviewed from sixty-three professional clubs in the four highest Brazilian soccer divisions. Data regarding the number of athletes and the number of ACL injuries conirmed by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) exams in the 2018 and 2019 seasons were collected. Incidence of ACL injury were compared by season, age category (under-13; under-15; under 17; and under-20), demographic region, and club division. Results Clubs from all regions of Brazil participated in the study. A total of 336 primary ACL injuries were diagnosed over the two seasons (8,167 athletes during the 2018 season and 8,941 athletes during the 2019 season) among all athletes, which corresponds to 2% of the included athletes. There were 11 cases (0.3%) in the under-13, 53 cases (1.3%) in the under-15, 107 cases (2.5%) in the under-17, and 165 cases (3.8%) in the under-20 age category. There was a higher incidence of ACL injury in the older age groups (p < 0.001). Conclusion A total of 336 ACL injuries were identiied in 17,108 youth soccer players from 63 professional clubs with an overall incidence of 2% over 2 seasons of competition. ACL injury rate ranged from 0.3% to 3.8% and was higher in the older and more competitive club divisions. Level of evidence IV.

Global overview of anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction in children and adolescents over the past 20 years: a bibliometric analysis

“…This study visually analyzed the research results related to ACL injury reconstruction in children and adolescents to summarize the current situation and development trend of research in this field. Through the comprehensive evaluation of the number of articles, countries and institutions, major researchers and research hotspots, the following key findings were made: Firstly, the incidence of ACL damage in children and adolescents increases with increase participation in physical activities [ 2 – 4 , 8 , 21 – 24 ]. Related studies have shown that the high incidence of ACL injuries in children and adolescents is on one hand due to the increased participation in physical activity and the lack of sports experience or conditioned reflexes of children and adolescents [ 25 ], and on the other hand, the improvement of imaging and diagnostic technology [ 26 – 30 ].…”

Efeito da oxigenoterapia hiperbárica na reconstrução do ligamento cruzado anterior em modelo experimental em coelhos

“…Por se tratar de uma lesão que acomete principalmente pessoas ativas, e devido à crescente participação em atividades esportivas da população geral, desde crianças a idosos, o número de casos diagnosticados da lesão do LCA tem aumentado exponencialmente 11 . A deficiência funcional gerada pela lesão do LCA traz importante limitação a esportes que envolvem rotação do corpo sobre o joelho e mudanças bruscas de direção 4,16 . Além disso, as alterações da biomecânica articular decorrentes da lesão, assim como o processo inflamatório desencadeado pela lesão e a própria agressão às estruturas adjacentes locais, por exemplo, a cartilagem articular, podem levar ao desencadeamento de osteoartrite pós-traumática, com consequente detrimento da qualidade de vida dos pacientes [17][18][19] .…”