Abstract
PurposeThis study aimed to investigate the incidence, pattern, and burden of hip/groin injuries in Swedish professional male football players over five consecutive seasons.MethodsInjury history from 16 football teams in the Swedish male first football league was evaluated during five consecutive seasons. The team’s medical staff recorded team exposure and time-loss injuries prospectively between 2012 and 2016.ResultsIn total, 467 time-loss injuries located in the hip/groin area were recorded among 1,687 professional male football players, with an overall incidence and burden of 0.82/1,000 h and 15.6/1,000 h, respectively. There appeared to be an increased risk of hip/groin injuries during the last two seasons (2015–2016); however, the difference was not statistically significant (n.s). Recurrent injury rate was relatively low (14%), and overuse injuries accounted for the majority of injuries and absence days. Muscle injuries were the main injury type, while kicking and sprinting/running were the primary causes of injury. Goalkeepers had the lowest percentage of injuries and absence days.ConclusionHip/groin injuries are a substantial problem in football, but does not seem to be an increasing phenomenon in the Swedish male first football league. Index and overuse injuries accounted for the majority of injuries and absence days. Thus, the focus should be on preventing hip/groin injuries to lower the injury rate. These new findings should be taken into consideration when designing and implementing preventive training interventions.Level of evidenceII.
Highlights
The hip/groin is one of the most injury prone areas in football [7]
467 time-loss injuries located to the hip/groin were recorded among 1687 professional football players
The median day lost due to injury was 97 days (IQR 50–209) per season per club
Summary
The hip/groin is one of the most injury prone areas in football [7]. It constitutes approximately 11–17% of all injuries in professional football [37], with frequencies as high as 19% [32].the hip/groin is, difficult to diagnose and treat due to the complexity of the region [38] and the lack of Epidemiological research in football is often described either during one season [2, 18], part of a season [3, 9], or comprised of rather small sample sizes [22]. The hip/groin is one of the most injury prone areas in football [7]. It constitutes approximately 11–17% of all injuries in professional football [37], with frequencies as high as 19% [32]. There are fewer studies concentrating on hip/groin injuries, where the focus has been on a selection of European teams [37, 38] or non-professionals [20, 31]. There was one recent study that used injury surveillance to describe hip/groin injuries in a professional league [23]. Despite the growing amount of hip/groin research in football, little is known about seasonal variations in professional league football.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
