Information about project titled 'Prevention of injuries in soccer through increased awarenes of injury situations'
Prevention of injuries in soccer through increased awarenes of injury situations
| Details about the project - category | Details about the project - value |
|---|---|
| Project status: | Published |
| Project manager: | Arni Arnason |
| Supervisor(s): | Roald Bahr |
| Coworker(s): | Lars Engebretsen |
Description
Few studies have been found, which actually deal with prevention of injuries in soccer. Video analysis has never been used as an interventions tool in soccer.
The aim of this study is to reduce number and severity of injuries in soccer matches with intervention based on results of video analysis.
Participants in the study are male soccer players from 16 of 20 soccer teams in the Icelandic elite soccer league and the 1st division, totally round 300 players.
Method: The Icelandic soccer season lasts from Mai 20th to September 20th 2000. During that time video recordings from most of the matches in the Icelandic elite soccer league and the last rounds in the cup are available at the Sports Department of the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service - Television (appr. 90 matches). Match analysis from the 1999 season showed three mechanisms leading to 54 (53%) of 102 analyzed incidents: a) Breake down attacks, attention on ball, tackling from side (21.6%). b) Defense, tackling duels, attention on ball or poor technique (20.6%). c) Heading duels, attention on ball or high elbows (10.8%). Before the season starts, 8 teams (4 from elite league and 4 from 1st division) were visited with interventions program based on the principle of guided discovery, focusing on incidents from these 3 mechanisms. Oral presentation of 20 minutes was given, followed by a 40 minutes videotape presentation compound of 12 incidents (4 from each mechanism).
The players gave a written analyze of each incident and made a proposal, how the exposed player could prevent the situation. The other teams will be used as a control. All videotapes from matches will be reviewed by the same physical therapist. An incident was recorded if the match was interrupted by the referee, a player lay down for more than 15 sec and the player appeared to be in pain. These incidents and the events leading up to the incidents were transferred to master videotape to further analysis. Injuries were defined as incidents forcing the player to leave the field because of an injury, or he can not participate in match or practice next day.
The master videotape was analyzed with the same method as in project 1, by a soccer expert with long experience in match analyses. Injuries was also prospectively registered by the team physical therapist on a special registering form.
These data will be compared to the videotapes to confirm which of the incidents should be defined as injuries. The incidents and injuries in matches will be compared between the intervention- and control group and the results from the year 1999.