Sprint Variables Are Associated with the Odds Ratios of Non-Contact Injuries in Professional Soccer Players.

Hadi Nobari,Filipe Manuel Clemente,Jorge Pérez-Gómez,Angel Denche Zamorano,Thomas G Bowman,Elena Mainer-Pardos

doi:10.3390/ijerph181910417

Abstract

Significant evidence has emerged that a high volume of sprinting during training is associated with an increased risk of non-contact injuries in professional soccer players. Training load has been reported as a modifiable risk factor for successive injury in soccer. Sprint workload measures and non-contact injuries were recorded weekly in twenty-one professional soccer players over a one season period. Odds ratio (OR) and relative risk (RR) were calculated based on the weeks of high and low load of total distance (TD), high-speed distance (HSD), sprint distance (SPD). and repeated sprints (RS). The Poisson distribution estimated the interval time between the last injury and the new injury. The weeks with high-load levels increased the risk of non-contact injury associated with TD (OR: 4.1; RR: 2.4), HSD (OR: 4.6; RR: 2.6), SPD (OR: 6.9; RR: 3.7), and RS (OR: 4.3; RR: 2.7). The time between injuries was significantly longer in weeks of low-load in TD (rate ratio time (RRT) 1.5 vs. 4.2), HSD (RRT: 1.6 vs. 4.6), and SPD (RRT: 1.7 vs. 7.7) compared to weeks of high-load. The findings highlight an increased risk of non-contact injuries during high weekly sprint workloads. Possibly, TD, HSD, and SPD measured via a wearable inertial measurement unit could be modeled to track training and to reduce non-contact injuries. Finally, the interval time between the last injury and the new injury at the high-load is shorter than the low-load.

Highlights

Soccer is considered an intermittent sport and it demands a wide variety of skills at high intensity with periods of rest or low intensity [1]
Mean injuries were significantly higher in the high load weeks compared to the low load weeks for Total distance (TD), high-speed distance (HSD), sprint distances (SD), and Repeated sprints (RS)
The Odds ratio (OR) and relative risk (RR) of producing some injury without contact was significantly higher in the weeks of high load compared to the weeks of low load in each one of the variables of interest

Summary

Introduction

Soccer is considered an intermittent sport and it demands a wide variety of skills at high intensity with periods of rest or low intensity [1]. Professional soccer players have a congested calendar which usually requires playing successive matches with three days of recovery [2]. These players are exposed to high training load due to the poor recovery periods between years of long training and high match frequencies. These competitive demands could increase injury risk and reduce performance; they could be detrimental to team success [2,3,4]. There has been an increase of high-speed distance (HSD) and running during competitive soccer matches [5].

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