THE ROLE OF STRENGTH TRAINING IN PREVENTING MUSCULOSKELETAL INJURIES AMONG FEMALE AND MALE SOCCER PLAYERS

Abstract

Introduction The occurrence of sports injuries among soccer players causes both financial and health losses, which is why preventing them is crucial. Science should provide reliable data on how different interventions affect the occurrence of sports injuries among athletes. Aim The review aims to analyse the quality of evidence proofed by the studies on the effectiveness of strength training in preventing sports injuries in soccer players. Material and methods Five databases were used in the review: Web of Science, Embase, Cochrane Library, Academic Search Ultimate, and Pubmed. Keywords used included: soccer players, strength training, hypertrophy training, protocol, injury rate, burden, and prevalence. Quality evaluation of studies found was performed using PEDro scale. Results Of the 646 studies researched, only 4 met the criteria of being applicable to this systematic review. Conclusions All four studies confirmed the decrease in the number of injuries and absence days per 1000h of exposure due to strength training; nonetheless, the lack of standardized protocol based on knowledge efficient at building strength makes the conclusion unreliable.