Muscle strains in soccer: a five-year survey of an Italian major league team

Knee Surg Sports Traumatol Arthrosc. 2004 Sep;12(5):482-5. doi: 10.1007/s00167-003-0478-0. Epub 2004 Mar 31.

Abstract

We analyzed muscle injuries collected from an Italian major-league soccer team during the period 1995-2000. We considered all the muscle accidents that had required a player to stand down for three or more days. Among the overall injuries, muscle accidents were the most frequent, representing 30% (103 cases), followed by contusions (28%), sprains (17%) and tendinopathies (9%). There was one recurrence involving the hamstring. Lack of training was one of the causes of such injuries; in fact the training/match ratio of those seasons (3.6 to 1) show that there was little time for training compared to the number of matches.

MeSH terms

  • Athletic Injuries / complications*
  • Health Surveys
  • Humans
  • Italy
  • Muscles / injuries*
  • Soccer / injuries*
  • Sprains and Strains / etiology*