Soccer: Online Study Claims High Achilles Injury Return Rate

An Achilles tendon rupture can be a catastrophic injury, especially for a soccer athlete, but a recent online study which only reviewed internet reports titled, “Eighty-two percent of male professional football (soccer) players return to play at the previous level two seasons after Achilles tendon rupture treated with surgical repair, ” published online at the British Journal of Sports Medicine on July 29, 2019, suggests a more hopeful scenario for athletes who want to remain competitive after this type of injury. It should be noted that this was not a comprehensive study and more work needs to be done on this subject—particularly with respect to professional players who are incentivized to minimize their injuries.

For this study, the researchers identified through internet-based reports from January 2008 to August 2018 all the professional male soccer players who had sustained an Achilles tendon rupture and had it repaired surgically. Data was only collected on League 1 and League 2 players for which at least one year of follow-up data was available.

Overall, 118 athletes were included in the study and 96% of them were able to return to unrestricted practice within an average of almost 200 days. Those athletes playing on national teams had a faster recovery rate than the other players. In addition, 82% of them were able to return to previous level of competition during the two seasons following injury.

Six players experienced a re-rupture during this same time period. Both an age over 30 and re-rupture were associated with a lower level of return to play.

The researchers wrote, “96% of professional male football players who underwent surgery to repair [Achilles tendon rupture] returned to unrestricted practice and then competition after an average time of 7 and 9 months, respectively.”