The Incidence of Injury in a Caribbean Amateur Women’s Football League

Abstract

This prospective study looked at the incidence of injury (IN) sustained by players during a season in an amateur women’s football league in Trinidad and Tobago where games were played on grass (GR) and on a new generation artificial turf (AT). The overall incidence of time loss injuries was 27.6/1000 player hours (95% CI: 17.0, 38.2). Most injuries were mild and players returned to play within one week of sustaining an injury. Players who trained predominately on, and played their home games on AT (PAT) sustained significantly fewer injuries when playing games on GR than those sustained while playing on AT (p=0.006). There were no differences in injury rates between games played on AT versus games played on GR (p=0.68). Most injuries were of a non-contact nature and so an injury prevention program should be implemented to reduce the injury rate in this amateur league.