In Germany, soccer is the most popular sport, but particularly on professional level a sport with a very high injury incidence (approx. 18.4 inj. / 1000h). During the observation period more than 6,840 injuries within the 1st and 2nd league led to about 30,000 days of disability and medical costs of almost € 4 million per season in average. The purpose of this study is to identify typical injury situations in professional men soccer and the illustration of resulting preventive measures. METHODS: The observation period focused on the season 2010/11, 11/12 and 12/13 of the two highest leagues in German men`s soccer. To describe the sample of all professional soccer players who played at least once in a competitive match, soccer specific journals were consulted. Injury data including information about nature and severity of the injury were analysed. The footage was available via the media library of the German Soccer League. With the aid of a validated checklist 117 injuries were video analysed. Additionally 67 professional soccer coaches participated in an online survey concerning injuries and preventive approaches to increase compliance of the resulting measures. RESULTS: Throughout the observation period 78 % of all athletes got injured at least once. In average each player sustained 2.5 injuries per season. About twothirds of the injuries concerned the lower limbs. Most of them were injuries of thighs (19.5 %), knees (16.0 %) and ankles (12.4 %). Knee injuries showed the highest severity leading to nearly 7,500 days of disability and € 1.6 million medical costs per season. In case of thigh injuries prevalently chronic injuries were monitored as a result from overuse effects during the season. 93 % of non-contact injuries by pivoting were knee injuries resulting from lunges (39 %), own sliding tackles (31 %) or stopping - typically in combination with change of direction (23 %). Commonly contact injuries resulted from collisions (43 %) or kicks (35 %) of opposing players and pertain to knee (30 %) or ankle (23 %). In case of kicks, at time of injury the injured athlete mainly was running/sprinting (33 %) or in a shooting/passing motion (24 %). Collisions with opposing players often occurred after sliding tackles of the injured player (28 %). In most cases of contact injuries the injured player was in contact with the ground (70 %) at least with one foot (45 %) at the moment of injury. DISCUSSION: To reduce number of injuries and to increase performance level of the athletes, sport specific, applicable and acceptable prevention measures are necessary. Measured by the given injury situations preventive recommendations should focus on physical preparation and training approaches. One focus should aim at strengthening of the mechanical axis to reduce number of non-contact injuries. Beyond that return-to-play guidelines for common kind of injuries should be implemented to reduce number of re-injuries.
© Copyright 2014 19th Annual Congress of the European College of Sport Science (ECSS), Amsterdam, 2. - 5. July 2014. Veröffentlicht von VU University Amsterdam. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.