rss
Br J Sports Med 2007;41:890-896 doi:10.1136/bjsm.2007.038935
  • Original article

Preparticipation medical evaluation in professional sport in the UK: theory or practice?

  1. C W Fuller,
  2. E O Ojelade,
  3. A Taylor
  1. Centre for Sports Medicine, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK
  1. Colin Fuller, Centre for Sports Medicine, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2UH, UK; colin.fuller{at}nottingham.ac.uk
  • Accepted 22 May 2007
  • Published Online First 3 July 2007

Abstract

Objective: To determine the level of pre-employment, pre-season, and post-injury medical evaluation of players undertaken within UK professional team sports.

Design: A postal, whole population survey.

Setting: Elite professional sports teams in England.

Population: Six groups comprising the following clubs: professional football (Premiership, 15 of 20; Championship, 22 of 24), rugby union (Premiership, 9 of 12; Division 1, 11 of 14), rugby league (Super League, 6 of 11) and cricket (County, 12 of 18).

Main outcome measures: Number (percentage) of clubs recording players’ medical history and undertaking medical examinations of players’ cardiovascular, respiratory, neurological, and musculoskeletal systems at pre-employment, pre-season and post-injury.

Results: The overall response to the survey was 74%, with a range from 55% to 92% among groups. Almost 90% of football (Premiership and Championship) and rugby union (Premiership) clubs took a pre-employment history of players’ general health, cardiovascular, respiratory, neurological, and musculoskeletal systems, but fewer than 50% of cricket and rugby union (Division 1) clubs recorded a history. The majority of football (Premiership and Championship) and rugby union (Premiership) clubs implemented both cardiovascular and musculoskeletal examinations of players before employment. Fewer than 25% of clubs in any of the groups implemented neurological examinations of players at pre-employment, although 100% of rugby union (Premiership) and rugby league clubs implemented neurological testing during pre-season.

Conclusions: None of the sports implemented best practice guidelines for the preparticipation evaluation of players at all stages of their employment. Departures from best practice guidelines and differences in practices between clubs within the same sport leave club physicians vulnerable if their players sustain injuries or ill health conditions that could have been identified and avoided through the implementation of a preparticipation examination.

Footnotes

  • Competing interests: None declared.

  • Abbreviations:
    PPE
    preparticipation evaluation

This Article

  1. Abstract
  2. Full text
  3. PDF
  4. All versions of this article:
    1. bjsm.2007.038935v1
    2. 41/12/890 most recent

Responses

  1. Submit a response
  2. No responses published

Register for free content

The full back archive is now available for all BMJ Journals. Institutional subscribers may access the entire archive as part of their subscription. Personal subscribers will also have access to all content when logged in. Non-subscribers who register have free access to all articles published before 2006 right back to volume 1 issue 1. Register here to access the free archive of all BMJ Journals.

Don't forget to sign up for content alerts so you keep up to date with all the articles as they are published.