Abstract
The Bundesliga made headlines for becoming the first major sports league to return to sport worldwide following COVID-19 lockdown. To-date, there lacks retrospective studies on longitudinal injury rates to elucidate the effect isolation measures had on the health and safety of professional athletes. This study sought to compare injury rates experienced by Bundesliga athletes before and after the COVID-19 lockdown. Data was collected from public injury and player reports regarding the Bundesliga, with injury defined as trauma resulting in loss of game time. Descriptive statistics were used to present differences in injury incidence between all Bundesliga Match days pre- and post-lockdown. Between the league's resumption and completion on May 16 and June 27, 2020, injuries occurred in 21 forwards (FW), 11 central midfielders (CM), 12 wide midfielders (WM), 16 central defenders (CD), 6 fullbacks (FB), and 2 goalkeepers. Players had 1.13 (95% CI 0.78, 1.64) times the odds of being injured following the COVID-19 lockdown, with a 3.12 times higher rate of injury when controlling for games played compared to injury rates pre-lockdown (0.84 injuries per game vs. 0.27 injuries per game). The most frequent injury group was muscular injuries with 23 injuries total, with 17% of athletes experiencing injury during their first competitive match following lockdown. Injury rate increased over 3-fold following COVID-19 lockdown. Athletes did not experience an increased rate of injury with more cumulative competitive matches played. High injury incidence for players yet to complete their first competitive match may imply suboptimal sport readiness following home confinement.
Highlights
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has spread globally, forcing governing bodies to close commercial activities to avoid social gatherings in early 2020 (Pillay et al, 2020; Sarto et al, 2020)
Player positions were categorized into forwards (FW), central midfielders (CM), wide midfielders (WM), central defenders (CD), fullbacks (FB), and goalkeepers
Injuries occurred in 21 forwards (FW), central midfielders (CM), wide midfielders (WM), 16 central defenders (CD), 6 fullbacks (FB), and 2 goalkeepers
Summary
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has spread globally, forcing governing bodies to close commercial activities to avoid social gatherings in early 2020 (Pillay et al, 2020; Sarto et al, 2020). Emerging calls to action by sports scientists are warning returning sports leagues of an additional reason to exercise extreme caution: an elevated injury risk for the isolated athlete (Casais-Martinez et al, 2020; Sarto et al, 2020). Short term detraining (4 weeks) include marked decreases in VO2max and endurance performance, lower lactate thresholds, and gradual reduction of muscle force production (Mujika and Padilla, 2000b). A recent study by Sarto et al postulated that detraining experienced by the confined athlete will result in impaired athlete performance and higher injury risk without appropriate rehabilitation and reconditioning (Sarto et al, 2020)
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