Abstract
Posture, a potentially modifiable injury risk factor, is considered important in injury screening/prevention in athletes, yet few studies investigate relationships between posture and injury. This prospective cohort study investigated whether static posture is associated with lower limb injury risk in male football players (n = 263). Nine aspects of static standing posture (left and right rearfoot, knee interspace, lateral knee, lumbar lordosis, thoracic kyphosis, scoliosis S and C, forward head) were assessed from photographs during the pre-season using the modified Watson and Mac Donncha scale, which was dichotomised for analysis (deviated or normal). Player characteristics (age, height, mass, body mass index, competition level), match/training exposure, and previous and in-season non-contact lower limb injuries were recorded. Binary logistic regression investigated relationships between posture and injury (previous and in-season). Eighty previous and 24 in-season lower limb injuries were recorded. Previous injury was not associated with any postural variable. In-season injury was associated with previous injury (OR = 3.04, 95% CI 1.20–7.68, p = 0.02) and having a normal thoracic curve compared to kyphosis (OR = 0.38, 95% CI 0.15–1.00, p = 0.05) but no other postural variables. Static postural deviations observed in male football players in the pre-season are not typically associated with non-contact lower limb injury risk; thus, they are unlikely to add value to pre-season screening programs.
Highlights
IntroductionFootball (soccer) is one of the most popular sports worldwide [1,2,3,4,5,6,7] with an estimated270 million players registered across the globe [1] and participation rates growing [8,9].It requires players to execute player-to-player contact [1,8,10,11], rapid acceleration and deceleration [12], and sharp changes of direction [8]
This study found that spinal postural deviations, i.e., forward head, thoracic kyphosis, and lumbar lordosis, were common in amateur football players
Previous studies using similar observational methods to the current study have reported an association between hyper-lordosis of the lumbar spine and injury in sporting populations [21,22,23]; this was not supported in the current study, which found no association between lumbar spine posture and injury
Summary
Football (soccer) is one of the most popular sports worldwide [1,2,3,4,5,6,7] with an estimated270 million players registered across the globe [1] and participation rates growing [8,9].It requires players to execute player-to-player contact [1,8,10,11], rapid acceleration and deceleration [12], and sharp changes of direction [8]. Participation in football carries a risk of injury for all players independent of skill level or age [1,10], with injuries per 1000 h of total exposure varying in the literature from 2.0 to 44.6 [2,3,10,13] and injuries per 1000 game hours varying from 8.7 to 103.9 [3,10,13,14,15] This variation may be due to differing definitions of injury and time loss [3,6,13,14,16], various data collection methods [3,14], and different population characteristics in relation to geographical location and skill level [6,13].
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
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
