Under–18 soccer players experience the highest incidence of time-loss injuries and injury burden than other youth soccer players, according to new findings.
Teenage Soccer Players Affected the Most By Injuries
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Secondary#youthathletes#growthrelatedinjuries#sprains
The study, “Injury incidence and burden in a youth elite football academy: a four-season prospective study of 551 youth players aged from under 9 to under 19 years,” published online in the British Journal of Sports Medicine on November 16, 2020 investigated the incidence and burden of injuries by age group at one youth football academy.
Data was collected for four consecutive seasons and the 2,204 injuries which were documented over that time period. About 40% of the injured players required medical attention and 60% had to refrain from playing for a period of time. Total time-loss for the population of injured players was 25,034 days.
One squad of 25 players experienced an average of 30 time-loss injuries (TLI) per squad-season (s-s) with an injury burden (IB) of 574 days lost per squad season.
Compared with other age groups, Under the age of 16 (U-16) players had the highest time-loss injuries incidence per s-s (95% CI lower upper): injury incidence (II) = 59 (52 to 67); injury burden = 992 days; (963 to 1,022). The under the age of 18 (U-18) players, on the other hand, had the greatest burden per squad season: injury incidence = 42.1 (36.1 to 49.1); injury burden = 1,408 days (1,373 to 1,444).
In all age groups, contusions (injury incidence = 7.7/s-s), sprains (injury incidence = 4.9/s-s) and growth-related injuries (injury incidence = 4.3/s-s) were the most common time-loss injuries.
The meniscus/cartilage injuries had the greatest injury severity (95% CI lower-upper); injury incidence = 0.4 (0.3 to 0.7), injury burden = 73 days (22 to 181).
Overall, the burden of physeal fractures was twice that of non-physeal fractures.
The study authors wrote, “At this youth football academy, each squad of 25 players averaged 30 injuries per season which resulted in 574 days lost. The highest incidence of time-loss injuries occurred in under-16 players, while the highest IB occurred in under-18 players.”
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This is a fascinating development. In my practice we've seen similar outcomes with the revised protocol. The key differentiator seems to be patient selection criteria. Has anyone else noticed the correlation with BMI thresholds?
Great point. I'd push back slightly on the conclusion, the sample size in the cited study is too small to draw population-level inferences. That said, the directional signal is compelling and worth a larger RCT.
We implemented a similar approach last year. Early results are promising but we're still gathering 12-month follow-up data. Happy to share our protocol if anyone is interested.
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