The bumpy road to effective hamstring injury prevention in male amateur soccer players

Abstract

Hamstring injuries are the most common muscle injuries in soccer and therefore a major concern in male amateur soccer players. Besides the high incidence, these injuries cause long absence of play and have high reinjury rates. Although numerous studies have been executed to reduce hamstring injury incidence in soccer players, the incidence actually increased. The hamstring injury seems to be difficult to prevent. “The bumpy road to effective hamstring injury prevention in male amateur soccer players” describes studies about preventing the first hamstring injury and about safe return to play after a hamstring injury. With these studies, we come another step closer to the solution for the hamstring injury problem. This thesis contains, studies about risk factors, reasons to (not) execute injury prevention programs as prescribed and studies about effects of jump training to prevent hamstring injuries prevention and to improve performance. This thesis has been established in close collaboration with the KNVB and underlines the complexity of the hamstring injury. Surprisingly the results were not as expected. An effective hamstring injury prevention program that reduced hamstring injury incidence by 2/3, is hardly executed in daily soccer practice. Furthermore, jump training was thought to be effective for multiple reasons. We found no preventive effect on hamstring injuries, but jump training did improve performance. In conclusion, an effective hamstring injury prevention program is hardly executed in daily practice and jump training improves performance but does not prevent hamstring injuries. The search for a solution for the hamstring injury problem continues.