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Muscle strains in soccer: a five-year survey of an Italian major league team

  • Sports Medicine
  • Published:
Knee Surgery, Sports Traumatology, Arthroscopy Aims and scope

Abstract

We analyzed muscle injuries collected from an Italian major-league soccer team during the period 1995–2000. We considered all the muscle accidents that had required a player to stand down for three or more days. Among the overall injuries, muscle accidents were the most frequent, representing 30% (103 cases), followed by contusions (28%), sprains (17%) and tendinopathies (9%). There was one recurrence involving the hamstring. Lack of training was one of the causes of such injuries; in fact the training/match ratio of those seasons (3.6 to 1) show that there was little time for training compared to the number of matches.

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Acknowledgement

The authors thank Ms Caterina La Bella for language assistance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sports Traumatology and Arthroscopic Surgery Unit, Galeazzi Orthopedics Institute, Milan, Italy

    Piero Volpi

  2. Center for Sports Rehabilitation, Galeazzi Orthopedics Institute, Milan, Italy

    Gianluca Melegati, Davide Tornese & Marco Bandi

  3. , Via Duca degli Abruzzi 28, 20052 , Monza (Mi), Italy

    Davide Tornese

Authors
  1. Piero Volpi
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  2. Gianluca Melegati
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  3. Davide Tornese
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  4. Marco Bandi
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Davide Tornese.

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Volpi, P., Melegati, G., Tornese, D. et al. Muscle strains in soccer: a five-year survey of an Italian major league team. Knee Surg Sports Traumatol Arthrosc 12, 482–485 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00167-003-0478-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00167-003-0478-0

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