Abstract
The epidemiology of injuries in female soccer has been studied extensively in several national leagues. Even so, data on the first division Spanish league are limited. The objective of this study was to describe the epidemiology of the first division of the Spanish Women’s Soccer League and to analyze data in relation to game position, circumstance, or the moment of injury. Fifteen teams and 123 players participated in the study. Players’ characteristics and their injuries (location, type, diagnosis, circumstance, and moment) were collected. Injuries were described by their frequencies (number and percentage) and incidence rates (IR) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Lower limb injuries accounted for 86.8% of total injuries. Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and meniscus injuries occurred in totality in non-contact circumstance (0.35/1000 h; 95% CI, 0.18 to 0.62 and 0.23/1000 h; 95% CI, 0.10 to 0.45, respectively). Match injury IRs (19.02/1000 h; 95% CI, 14.89 to 23.97) were significantly higher than training (1.70/1000 h; 95% CI, 1.27 to 2.22). As a conclusion, structures such as the ACL or meniscus are most commonly injured in the non-contact circumstance in the first division of the Spanish Women’s Soccer League. In addition, match situations involve a greater risk of injury than training, increasing the risk to the ankle and knee injuries as the season progresses.
Highlights
The aim of this study was to examine the injury frequencies and incidence rates (IR) of the first division Spanish women’s soccer players and to analyze data in relation to different variables—game position, circumstance, training/match, and the period of the season to direct the purpose of injury prevention strategies
These exposure times were used for the subsequent calculation of IRs
We found three main findings: first, there were no differences between game positions in the injury IRs; second, the ankle injuries had greater IR in contact circumstance and the thigh and knee injuries had higher IRs in non-contact; and third, the injury IRs in match were 11 times greater than in training in total injuries
Summary
There is an increase in the interest of society, and in Spain, since the first division Spanish women’s soccer players has established record values of spectators within its league in the 2016/2017 season with 260,000 televiewers for a match and 22,202 attendees to a soccer stadium [1]. This league is formed by sixteen professional teams; it takes place from September to May, and it has the fourth best coefficient according to UEFA, just behind the French, German, and English leagues. It is different from other major leagues in terms of the number of teams, calendar, and winner’s award system [2,3,4,5]
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