Background The influence of fixture congestion on injury rates and team performance has only been scarcely investigated. Aim To study associations between recovery time and match load and injury rates and team performance in professional football. Methods Exposure and time loss injuries were registered prospectively from 27 teams over 11 seasons. Matches were grouped according to recovery days before each match (≤3 vs >3 days, and ≤4 vs ≥6 days). Injury rates and team performance were compared between groups. Match load in match sequences containing five consecutive matches was determined by the number of days separating the first match and the last training session during that match sequence. Linear regression was used to study associations between match load and injury rates and team performance. Results Team performance showed no association with match load, or recovery days prior to matches, except for Europa League matches that indicated more matches lost with short recovery (≤3 days) (p=0.048). Total injury rates and muscle injury rates were increased in league matches with ≤4 days compared with ≥6 days’ recovery (RR 1.09, 95% CI 1.00 to 1.18, and RR 1.32, 95% CI 1.15 to 1.51, respectively), specifically hamstring and quadriceps injuries. High match load was associated with increase in muscle injury rate in matches in the same match sequence (p=0.012), and increase in ligament injury rate in training in the subsequent match sequence (p=0.003). Conclusions Fixture congestion was associated with increased muscle injury rates but had no, or very limited, influence on team performance.
The Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, and Maintenance (RE-AIM) framework can be used for evaluation of implementation initiatives in sports injury prevention. The aim was to evaluate the implementation of the injury prevention exercise programme Knee Control+ among amateur clubs and coaches in one regional football district using all five dimensions of the RE-AIM framework.Dissemination of Knee Control+ during the 2021 season with information and webinars within one regional football district. This was followed by a cross-sectional study with questionnaires to club personnel and coaches after the season.The reach of Knee Control+ was fair to high, 83% of club personnel and 66% of coaches knew about the programme. 41% of club personnel and 51% of coaches had adopted it. Perceived programme effectiveness was high (6 on a 1-7 Likert scale) among coaches. Regarding implementation and maintenance, 27% of club personnel had informed coaches about Knee Control+ and 57% planned to inform coaches. The coaches had implemented the programme mainly as recommended, but half used the programme once per week or less. Intention to maintain use of the programme was high (7 on a 1-7 Likert scale) among coaches.The reach of Knee Control+ was fair to high, and adoption was fair in clubs, but there was a lack of policies for preventive training. Active strategies probably need to accompany dissemination of programme material. Reach, perceived effectiveness, adoption, implementation and planned maintenance were positive among coaches, but further studies are needed to analyse long-term maintenance.
Medial collateral ligament (MCL) injury is the single most common traumatic knee injury in football. The purpose of this study was to study the epidemiology and mechanisms of MCL injury in men's professional football and to evaluate the diagnostic and treatment methods used. Fifty-one teams were followed prospectively between one and three full seasons (2013/2014–2015/2016). Individual player exposure and time-loss injuries were recorded by the teams' medical staffs. Moreover, details on clinical grading, imaging findings and specific treatments were recorded for all injuries with MCL injury of the knee as the main diagnosis. Agreement between magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and clinical grading (grades I–III) was described by weighted kappa. One hundred and thirty of 4364 registered injuries (3%) were MCL injuries. Most MCL injuries (98 injuries, 75%) occurred with a contact mechanism, where the two most common playing situations were being tackled (38 injuries, 29%) and tackling (15 injuries, 12%). MRI was used in 88 (68%) of the injuries, while 33 (25%) were diagnosed by clinical examination alone. In the 88 cases in which both MRI and clinical examination were used to evaluate the grading of MCL injury, 80 (92% agreement) were equally evaluated with a weighted kappa of 0.87 (95% CI 0.77–0.96). Using a stabilising knee brace in players who sustained a grade II MCL injury was associated with a longer lay-off period compared with players who did not use a brace (41.5 (SD 13.2) vs. 31.5 (SD 20.3) days, p = 0.010). Three-quarter of the MCL injuries occurred with a contact mechanism. The clinical grading of MCL injuries showed almost perfect agreement with MRI grading, in cases where the MCL injury is the primary diagnosis. Not all grade II MCL injuries were treated with a brace and may thus indicate that routine bracing should not be necessary in milder cases. Prospective cohort study, II.
Background Hamstring injury is the single most common injury in professional football. MRI is commonly used to confirm the diagnosis and provide a prognosis of lay-off time. Objective To evaluate the use of MRI as a prognostic tool for lay-off after hamstring injuries in professional football players and to study the association between MRI findings and injury circumstances. Methods Prospective cohort study where 23 European professional teams, were followed between 2007 and 2011. Team medical staffs recorded individual player exposure and time-loss injuries. Radiological grading was performed using a modified Peetrons classification into four grades where grades 2 and 3 represent fibre disruption. Results In total, 516 hamstring injuries occurred and 58% of these were examined by MRI. Thirteen per cent were grade 0 injuries, 57% grade 1, 27% of grade 2 and 3% of grade 3. Grade 0 and 1 injuries accounted for 56% (2141/3830 days) of the total lay-off. The lay-off time differed between all four radiological grades of injury (8±3, 17±10, 22±11 and 73±60 days, p<0.0001). Eighty-three per cent of injuries affected the biceps femoris while 11% and 5% occurred to the semimembranosus and semitendinosus, respectively. Re-injuries (N=34/207) constituted 16% of injuries. All re-injuries occurred to the biceps femoris. Conclusion MRI can be helpful in verifying the diagnosis of a hamstring injury and to prognosticate lay-off time. Radiological grading is associated with lay-off times after injury. Seventy per cent of hamstring injuries seen in professional football are of radiological grade 0 or 1, meaning no signs of fibre disruption on MRI, but still cause the majority of absence days.
The paper elucidates the author's conception of finitude and the logic of survival, which involves a deconstruction of the opposition between mortality and immortality. Returning to Laclau's deployment of a psychoanalytic conception of lack in his thinking of politics, the paper concludes with a discussion of democracy. Radical atheism does not seek to replace Laclau's approach to politics, as a struggle through articulation for a hegemonic position, but to demonstrate through immanent critique that it requires a different conception of desire.
Background: About 12% of patients who have undergone primary anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction sustain a contralateral ACL injury within 5 years. Purpose: To investigate patient-reported knee function, quality of life, and activity level in patients with bilateral ACL injuries. Study Design: Cohort study; Level of evidence, 3. Methods: A search of hospital records identified 147 patients, aged 18 to 45 years, with bilateral ACL injuries. Of these, 83 met the inclusion criteria, having had their first ACL injury up to 12 years ago with no other major injuries to the knee joint. Sixty-six of these patients (80% of total; 47% female; mean age, 29.1 ± 7.2 years) answered a questionnaire packet. Patients who had undergone unilateral ACL reconstruction (n = 182) were used for comparison. Results: Patients with bilateral ACL injuries had a median Lysholm knee score of 82 (range, 34-100). The mean EuroQol index (EQ-5D) score of the overall health status was 0.77 ± 0.22, and the mean EQ-5D visual analog scale score was 75.5 ± 17.6. The median Tegner activity level was 9 (range, 1-9) before any injuries, 7 (range, 1-9) before the second ACL injury, and 4 (range, 1-9) at the time of follow-up. The activity level before the second injury was higher compared with the follow-up for patients who had undergone unilateral ACL reconstruction. At follow-up, 23% of the patients with bilateral ACL injuries returned to their previous activity, and 12% of patients returned to the same level as before their injuries compared with 43% ( P = .004) and 28% ( P = .01) in patients who had undergone unilateral ACL reconstruction, respectively. Patients with bilateral ACL injuries had significantly lower values in the Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS) subscales for pain, function in sports and recreation, and knee-related quality of life as well as the ACL Deficiency Quality of Life (ACL-QOL) score compared with patients who had undergone unilateral ACL reconstruction. Conclusion: Patients with bilateral ACL injuries reported poorer knee function and quality of life compared with those who had undergone unilateral ACL reconstruction. Their activities had changed, and they were dissatisfied with their current activity level. They had a high activity level before their first and second ACL injuries but an impaired activity level after their contralateral injury at follow-up.
It has been hypothesised that injury risk after return to play following an injury absence is influenced by the amount of training completed before return to competition.To analyse if the number of completed training sessions between return to play and the first subsequent match appearance was associated with the odds of injury in men's professional football.From a cohort study, including 303 637 individual matches, 4805 first match appearances after return to play following moderate to severe injuries (≥8 days absence) were analysed. Rate ratios (RRs) were used to compare injury rates in the first match appearances with the average seasonal match injury rate. Odds ratios (ORs) were used to analyse associations between the number of completed training sessions and general (all injuries), muscle, and non-muscle injury odds.Injury rate in the first match after return to play was increased by 87% compared with the average seasonal match injury rate (46.9 vs 25.0/1000 hours, RR=1.87; 95% CI 1.64 to 2.14). The odds of injury dropped 7% with each training session before the first match (OR 0.93; 95% CI 0.87 to 0.98). The same association was found for muscle injuries (OR 0.87; 95% CI 0.79 to 0.95) but not for non-muscle injuries (OR 0.99; 95% CI 0.91 to 1.07).Injury rates in the first match after injury are higher than the average seasonal match injury rate, but the propensity for player injury is decreased when players complete more training sessions before their first match.
Injuries in women's football (soccer) have scarcely been investigated, and no study has been conducted in the highest competitive level involving club teams from different countries. Our aim was to investigate the time-loss injury epidemiology and characteristics among women's elite football players over four seasons.