Football-related injuries are the major reason for the career end of professional male football players

Matthias Koch,Michael Worlicek,Siegmund Lang,Daniel Popp,Martin Klügl,Volker Alt,Borys Frankewycz,Werner Krutsch

doi:10.1007/s00167-021-06684-8

Matthias Koch, Michael Worlicek + Show 6 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1007/s00167-021-06684-8

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Abstract

PurposeLittle is known about the consequences of injuries on professional male football players’ career and retirement period. The aim of this study is to investigate the impact of injuries that male professional football players endure during their career, reasons for the end of their career and the post-career phase of retirement.MethodsIn a retrospective cross-sectional cohort study, retired male professional football players of the German Bundesliga were investigated by a standardised questionnaire to analyse the history of injuries sustained during their professional football career, the reasons for ending their career, their current health status and their suggestions for future prevention strategies.ResultsMost of the 116 analysed players (n = 73 (62.9%)) stated an injury as the reason for ending their professional career. Relevant injuries were mainly located in the lower extremities (n = 587 (61.3%)) with a focus on the knee (p < 0.001) and ankle (p < 0.001). A significant majority of the participants who had retired due to injury described degenerative symptoms, such as pain or instability, and were diagnosed with osteoarthritis after retirement (p < 0.001). These players had also often been affected by symptoms of depression during their career, which had decreased significantly after retirement. Moreover, players who had not retired due to injury had significantly better overall health status and quality of life after retirement.ConclusionFootball-related injuries have a significant impact on the career end of professional male football players and their health status after retirement. Future prevention strategies need to particularly address injuries to the knees and ankles and to implement measures for preventing osteoarthritis after retirement.Level of evidenceLevel III

Highlights

Football is the most common type of sports worldwide and is associated with a high incidence of injuries [1, 2]
The knowledge about mid-term and long-term consequences of football-related injuries obtained in this study will help to improve the risk assessment for teams and players and enable the adequate development of prevention strategies to be already implemented during the active career of professional football players
The end of the professional football career was followed by a significant increase in mean BMI (p ≤ 0.001, Table 1)

Summary

Introduction

Football is the most common type of sports worldwide and is associated with a high incidence of injuries [1, 2]. Little is known about the real impact of football injuries on the career end and the retirement period of professional football players. The aim of this study is to investigate the impact of injuries of professional football players during their career, related reasons for the end of their career and their retirement with a special focus on the health status after. The knowledge about mid-term and long-term consequences of football-related injuries obtained in this study will help to improve the risk assessment for teams and players and enable the adequate development of prevention strategies to be already implemented during the active career of professional football players. The hypothesis of this study is that the career course of professional football players in terms of timing the end of their career and sports activities and the health status after their career is dramatically influenced by football-related injuries

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