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Meta-Analysis
. 2020 Jun;54(12):711-718.
doi: 10.1136/bjsports-2018-099577. Epub 2019 Jun 6.

Epidemiology of injuries in professional football: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Alejandro López-Valenciano  1   2 , Iñaki Ruiz-Pérez  1 , Alberto Garcia-Gómez  3 , Francisco J Vera-Garcia  4 , Mark De Ste Croix  5 , Gregory D Myer  6   7 , Francisco Ayala  8
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

Epidemiology of injuries in professional football: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Alejandro López-Valenciano et al. Br J Sports Med. 2020 Jun.

Abstract

Objective: We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of epidemiological data of injuries in professional male football.

Method: Forty-four studies have reported the incidence of injuries in football. Two reviewers independently extracted data and assessed trial quality using the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology statement and Newcastle Ottawa Scale. Studies were combined in a pooled analysis using a Poisson random effects regression model.

Results: The overall incidence of injuries in professional male football players was 8.1 injuries/1000 hours of exposure. Match injury incidence (36 injuries/1000 hours of exposure) was almost 10 times higher than training injury incidence rate (3.7 injuries/1000 hours of exposure). Lower extremity injuries had the highest incidence rates (6.8 injuries/1000 hours of exposure). The most common types of injuries were muscle/tendon (4.6 injuries/1000 hours of exposure), which were frequently associated with traumatic incidents. Minor injuries (1-3 days of time loss) were the most common. The incidence rate of injuries in the top 5 European professional leagues was not different to that of the professional leagues in other countries (6.8 vs 7.6 injuries/1000 hours of exposure, respectively).

Conclusions: Professional male football players have a substantial risk of sustaining injuries, especially during matches.

Keywords: football; injury; prevention.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow chart of the selection of studies for the meta-analysis.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Overall injury incidence forest plot with 95% CIs. EC, Europe tournament; NT, national team; U, under; WC, world tournament.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Training injury incidence forest plot with 95% CIs. EC, Europe tournament; NT, national team; U, under; WC, world tournament.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Match injury incidence forest plot with 95% CIs. AMC, American tournament; CC, confederation tournaments; CWC, clubs world tournaments; EC, Europe tournament; nt, national team; OG, Olympic games; U, under; WC, world tournament.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Injury incidence rates (with 95% CIs) by location of lower extremity injuries.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Injury incidence (with 95% CIs) by type of injury.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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