Oslo Sports Trauma Research Center

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Information about project titled 'Video analysis of acute injuries in Norwegian male professional football'

Video analysis of acute injuries in Norwegian male professional football

Details about the project - category Details about the project - value
Project status: Published
Project manager: Thor Einar Andersen
Supervisor(s): Roald Bahr, Lars Engebretsen
Coworker(s): Øyvind Larsen, Albin Tenga, Ingar Holme

Description

Several studies (Ekstrand et al. 1983, Arnason 96, Inklaar 96, Dvorak 2000) have found a high incidence of injuries in elite male soccer and higher in games than in practice. The etiology of the soccer injuries is less well understood. No data on the relationship between playing style and injuries are available in the literature. However, match analysis has been widely used in Norway by national team coaches (Olsen & Larsen 1997).

This project is an attempt to take a similar approach to injury analysis using the experience and methods of the coaching staff. The goal of the present study is to analyze all acute injuries in the Norwegian professional elite league in the season 2000. A recent developed and tested video-based method to analyze injury risk situations will be used.

 

Material and methods: Recordings from 182 matches in the male elite soccer division in Norway during the season that last from April till end of October 2000 will be collected and analyzed. All situations where the match is stopped because a player appears to be injured on the pitch will be noted. An incident will be recorded if the match is interrupted by the referee and one or more player(s) of a team lay down on the pitch for more than 15 s, and the player(s) appear(s) to be in pain. These incidents, including the events leading up to each incident, will be transferred to a master videotape.

The medical staff of each team will consecutively register all acute injuries in matches and in practices during the season 2000. Around 330 players will participate in the project. Each incident identified on the videotapes will be cross-referenced with the medical records and classified as an injury if the player is unable to participate in training or match play at least for one day following the incident. Injuries will be classified as minor when the player can not practice soccer normally or play matches for 1-7 days, moderate if absent for 8-21 days, and serious if absent for more than 21 days (Lewin 1989). Injuries will be classified as contusions, sprains, strains, fractures, or lacerations. The medical staff of each team will also register players exposure data in matches and practices.

 

Match analysis: A medical doctor (TEA) and a soccer expert with long experience in match analysis will analyze the videotapes. Match analysis is defined as analysis of the team events leading up to the incidents, e.g. attacking, defending, and aspects related to the effectiveness of a match play on the field. A recent developed video-based method to analyze injury risk situations will be used. Data from this project will hopefully reveal risk- factors for football-injuries and injury mechanisms that will be tested in subsequent projects.