Comparison Of Injuries Between Youth And Adult Puerto Rican Soccer Players

Abstract

It has been shown that the incidence of soccer injuries will vary according to the characteristics of the population being studied, including age and level of competition. Since most studies are performed using professional athletes, this data does not necessarily relate to the bulk of players that are involved in recreational and amateur organized soccer. PURPOSE: To investigate the incidence of injuries sustained in Puerto Rican amateur soccer players and to compare the results between adults and young players. METHODS: A descriptive study of player injuries over one year. Injuries where recorded by means of a survey form, administered on a weekly basis. 469 subjects between the ages 10 to 50 participated in this study and were divided into 2 groups (< =18 and > 18) for data analysis. RESULTS: A total of 124 injuries were reported, with an average injury rate of 0.26 per player per year. 38 injuries in 76 subjects > 18 were reported for an average injury rate of 0.5, and 86 injuries were reported in 390 subjects >= 18 for an average injury rate of 0.22. Young players suffered most of the injuries in the knee (27.9%), and ankle (17.4%), while the adults had lower extremity injuries that affected the thigh (26.3%) followed by ankle (23.7%), foot (15.8%) and knee (13.2%). Young players had mild ligamentous injury (26.7%), resulting from rough play (38.4%), with 0-3 days loss of play (87.2%). Adults had more incidence of muscular strains (34.2%), sprains (28.9%) associated to rough play (26.4%), with most injury classified in the slight (1-3 days off play) and minor (4-7 days off play) severity categories (57.9% and 18.4% respectively). CONCLUSIONS: In our study we found that young players exhibited no direct relationship between hours of play, injury incidence and severity of injury with increased participation between 2 to 14 hours weekly. Adult amateur recreational players that had the lowest exposure sustained more injuries than the ones that exercised most days of the week. There were differences between the body area and type of injuries, with adults having a higher incidence of thigh strains, and young player's traumatic injuries involving the knee and ankle.