PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Geertsema, Celeste
AU  - Geertsema, Liesel
AU  - Farooq, Abdulaziz
AU  - Harøy, Joar
AU  - Oester, Chelsea
AU  - Weber, Alexis
AU  - Bahr, Roald
TI  - Injury prevention knowledge, beliefs and strategies in elite female footballers at the FIFA Women’s World Cup France 2019
AID  - 10.1136/bjsports-2020-103131
DP  - 2021 Jul 01
TA  - British Journal of Sports Medicine
PG  - 801--806
VI  - 55
IP  - 14
4099  - http://bjsm.bmj.com/content/55/14/801.short
4100  - http://bjsm.bmj.com/content/55/14/801.full
SO  - Br J Sports Med2021 Jul 01; 55
AB  - Objectives This study assessed knowledge, beliefs and practices of elite female footballers regarding injury prevention.Methods A survey was sent to players participating in the FIFA Women’s World Cup France 2019. Questions covered three injury prevention domains: (1) knowledge; (2) attitudes and beliefs; (3) prevention practices in domestic clubs. Additionally, ACL injury history was assessed.Results Out of 552 players, 196 women responded (35.5%). More than 80% of these considered injury risk to be moderate or high. Players listed knee, ankle, thigh, head and groin as the most important injuries in women’s football. The most important risk factors identified were low muscle strength, followed by poor pitch quality, playing on artificial turf, too much training, reduced recovery and hard tackles. In these elite players, 15% did not have any permanent medical staff in their domestic clubs, yet more than 75% had received injury prevention advice and more than 80% performed injury prevention exercises in their clubs. Players identified the two most important implementation barriers as player motivation and coach attitude. Two-thirds of players used the FIFA 11+ programme in their clubs.Conclusions This diverse group of elite players demonstrated good knowledge of risk level and injury types in women’s football. Of the risk factors emphasised by players, there was only one intrinsic risk factor (strength), but several factors out of their control (pitch quality and type, training volume and hard tackles). Still players had positive attitudes and beliefs regarding injury prevention exercises and indicated a high level of implementation, despite a lack of medical support.Data collected during this survey are available upon reasonable request. Anonymous data are held by the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) Medical Office.