Compliance with an Injury Prevention Program for Dutch Male Amateur Soccer Players

Abstract

Compliance with and attitudes towards injury prevention programs, like "The11", can influence the effectiveness of such programs. The injury prevention program "The11" aims to reduce the impact of intrinsic injury risk factors in soccer. It includes 10 exercises focusing on core stability, eccentric training of thigh muscles, proprioception, dynamic stabilization and plyometrics with straight leg alignment. PURPOSE: The aim of this study is to monitor the use of the "The11" during practice sessions in one soccer season and to determine opinions of coaches and players concerning this program. METHODS: This study is part of a cluster-randomized controlled trial on the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of "The11". First class amateur teams from one district in the Netherlands participate in this study. They all have practice sessions 2-3 times a week. Male players aged 18-40 years were eligible for inclusion in the study. Ten teams, including 212 players, participated and were followed during one competition (September 2009 - June 2010). The participating teams were instructed to perform "The11", during each practice session throughout the intervention season. Compliance of all players was registered by coaches weekly. Practice sessions were also monitored by independent observers each month. At the end of the intervention season coaches as well as players were asked to fill in a questionnaire to assess their attitudes towards "The11" and injury prevention in general. RESULTS: Preliminary results show that teams completed "The11" in 81% of all practice sessions and players in 84% of the sessions they attended. All the coaches stated that including injury prevention in the practice sessions is important. 53% Of the players returned their questionnaire (n=110). Of them 55% was moderately to highly motivated to perform "The11" during each practice session. On average a third of the players mentioned every exercise as 'boring'. Coaches and players believed that 'bench', 'sideways bench' and 'hamstrings' are the most important three exercises to prevent soccer injuries. CONCLUSIONS: Compliance was good in this study. More extensive results of this study are expected in the forthcoming months and can be presented in Denver, USA. Also the correlations between compliance, attitudes and injuries will be discussed then.