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Exercise-based injury prevention in football

Trainingsbasierte Verletzungsprävention im Fußball

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Abstract

Injuries—a major concern in a high-intensity contact sport like football—are associated with possible short- and long-term harmful consequences for the individual, the team and club as well as for the whole society. Consequently, there is need for effective injury prevention in football at all levels of play, in all age groups and in both genders. The present review summarizes the current scientific evidence focusing on exercise-based injury prevention and presenting promising prevention strategies in different football populations and settings. There is convincing evidence that multimodal exercise-based injury prevention programs (IPP) can reduce injury incidence by more than 30% in athletes of different age groups and in both genders. Although relevant effects have already been shown for short sessions, increased frequency and regular integration into normal practice may increase efficacy up to an injury reduction of 50%. Most programs last about 15 min and can easily replace traditional warm-up programs. Furthermore, there is increasing evidence that IPP beneficially affect neuromuscular performance parameters and biomechanical movement characteristics, which are associated with injury risk. There remains, however, a major gap between research on the short-term efficacy and long-term intervention strategies. IPP should be implemented continuously and with high fidelity as training effects are transient. It is crucial that future studies report implementation components in detail in order to facilitate the replication of successful interventions.

Zusammenfassung

Verletzungen sind in einer Kontaktsportart von hoher Intensität wie Fußball ein wichtiges Thema. Sie können kurz- und langfristig negative Folgen für den einzelnen Spieler, für Mannschaft und Verein sowie auch für die gesamte Gesellschaft haben. Folgerichtig besteht im Fußball ein Bedarf an wirksamer Verletzungsprävention auf allen Spielniveaus, in allen Altersgruppen und für beide Geschlechter. Die vorliegende Übersicht fasst die aktuelle Studienlage zusammen und konzentriert sich dabei auf die übungsbasierte Verletzungsprävention. Vielversprechende Strategien in verschiedenen Fußballpopulationen und Umgebungen werden beschrieben. Es gibt stichhaltige Belege dafür, dass multimodale übungsbasierte Verletzungspräventionsprogramme (VPP) die Verletzungsinzidenz bei Sportlern verschiedener Altersgruppen und beider Geschlechter um mehr als 30% senken können. Auch wenn schon geringe Übungsvolumen relevante Effekte zeigen, lässt sich die Verletzungsreduktion durch eine angemessene Häufigkeit und regelmäßige Durchführung auf bis zu 50 % steigern. Die meisten Programme haben eine Dauer von etwa 15 min und können problemlos übliche Aufwärmeinheiten ersetzen. Darüber hinaus gibt es immer mehr Hinweise, dass VPP sich positiv auf neuromuskuläre Leistungsparameter und biomechanische Bewegungseigenschaften auswirken, die mit dem Verletzungsrisiko assoziiert sind. Allerdings besteht eine große Lücke zwischen Studien zur kurzfristigen Wirksamkeit und langfristigen Interventionsstrategien. VPP sollten fortwährend und mit hoher Adhärenz implementiert werden, da die Trainingseffekte nicht von Dauer sind. Von zentraler Bedeutung ist, dass in kommenden Studien die Implementationskomponenten detailliert beschrieben werden, um eine Replikation erfolgreicher Interventionen zu ermöglichen.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sport, Exercise and Health, University of Basel, Birsstr. 320B, 4052, Basel, Switzerland

    Oliver Faude

  2. Department of Movement and Sports Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, 1050, Brussels, Belgium

    Nikki Rommers

  3. Department of Movement and Sports Sciences, Ghent University, Watersportlaan 2, 9000, Ghent, Belgium

    Nikki Rommers

  4. Department of Public and Occupational Health, Amsterdam Collaboration on Health and Safety in Sports, VU University Medical Center, Van der Boechorststraat 7, 1081 BT, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Roland Rössler

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  1. Oliver Faude
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  2. Nikki Rommers
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Correspondence to Oliver Faude.

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O. Faude, N. Rommers and R. Rössler declare that they have no competing interests.

For the present contribution the authors did not perform any studies with human participants or animals. For the studies discussed in this contribution apply the ethical guidelines statements as declared in the respective publications.

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Faude, O., Rommers, N. & Rössler, R. Exercise-based injury prevention in football. Ger J Exerc Sport Res 48, 157–168 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12662-018-0505-4

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