Objectives Adherence to injury prevention programmes in football remains low, which is thought to drastically reduce the effects of injury prevention programmes. Reasons why (medical) staff and players implement injury prevention programmes, have been investigated, but player’s characteristics and perceptions about these programmes might influence their adherence. Therefore, this study investigated the relationships between player’s characteristics and adherence and between player’s perceptions and adherence following an implemented injury prevention programme. Methods Data from 98 of 221 football players from the intervention group of a cluster randomised controlled trial concerning hamstring injury prevention were analysed. Results Adherence was better among older and more experienced football players, and players considered the programme more useful, less intense, more functional and less time-consuming. Previous hamstring injuries, educational level, the programme’s difficulty and intention to continue the exercises were not significantly associated with adherence. Conclusion These player’s characteristics and perceptions should be considered when implementing injury prevention programmes.
Young talented athletes that mature have an increased injury risk. Human movement scientist Alien van der Sluis studied soccer players of the talent development program of FC Groningen and tennis players of the talented development program of the Royal Dutch Lawn Tennis Federation (KNLTB). The soccer players were followed for three years around their adolescent growth spurt. In the year of their growth spurt, players have more injuries compared to the year before or the year after, and they miss more training sessions and matches. A possible cause is the different rates in which bone tissue, muscle tissue and tendon tissue adapt to the growing body. More specific, players that grow more than 0.6 cm in one month, have an increased risk for injury in the next month. Moreover, players with a late growth spurt are relatively small compared to their peers, and this leads to more injuries compared to their ‘earlier mature’ counterparts.Furthermore, tennis players high in risk-taking behavior (typical for puberty), have more injuries and players with better metacognitive skills such as monitoring, have less injuries. Players may be better capable of monitoring small physical complaints, which could help them to prevent themselves from having more severe injuries.Van der Sluis concluded that during puberty, there are specific risk factors for injuries in talented athletes. Coaches and trainers should estimate the moment of the adolescent growth spurt, to take injury preventive measures at the right moment. Monthly monitoring of length, could help to predict an increased risk of injury in periods of intensive growth. At last, it is advised to provide feedback to players high in risk-taking and to educate athletes in monitoring their own training process.
The purpose of this study was to identify differences in traumatic and overuse injury incidence between talented soccer players who differ in the timing of their adolescent growth spurt. 26 soccer players (mean age 11.9 ± 0.84 years) were followed longitudinally for 3 years around Peak Height Velocity, calculated according to the Maturity Offset Protocol. The group was divided into an earlier and later maturing group by median split. Injuries were registered following the FIFA consensus statement. Mann-Whitney tests showed that later maturing players had a significantly higher overuse injury incidence than their earlier maturing counterparts both in the year before Peak Height Velocity (3.53 vs.0.49 overuse injuries/1 000 h of exposure,U = 49.50, z = − 2.049, p < 0.05) and the year of Peak Height Velocity (3.97 vs. 1.56 overuse injuries/1 000 h of exposure, U = 50.5, z = − 1.796,p < 0.05). Trainers and coaches should be careful with the training and match load they put on talented soccer players, especially those physically not (yet) able to handle that load. Players appear to be especially susceptible to injury between 13.5 and 14.5 years of age. Training and match load should be structured relative to maturity such that athletic development is maximized and the risk of injury is minimized.
