| dc.description.abstract | Background : Football is reportedly the most popular team sport among youth participants in South Africa. However, the epidemiology of injury occurrence in youth football in South Africa has not been fully researched. ln order to devise age - appropriate conditioning and injury management strategies, the nature of injuries and the risk factors associated with injury in this population needs to be described.
Aims : The study aimed to determine if a relationship exists between exposure time and injury incidence in youth footballers. Furthermore, the study aimed to design an injury prevention strategy specific to this population.
Methods : A retrospective cohort study design was used. The cohort consisted of all players who were registered at the academy for the duration of the study period. These players were grouped into 5 academy teams classified by chronological age i.e. under I l; under 13; under l5;under 17 and under 19.These teams were collapsed into 3 categories viz. under 13 (ul3); under 15&17 (ul5&17); and under 19 (u 19).The ages of the players ranged from 9 to l9 years, mean age = 13.8 years(+ 3.3 years).Anthropometric data, injury data and exposure times were recorded by the academy medical staff on validated and standardized data collection forms used by the FIFA medical and research committee(FMARC) in previous epidemiological research . Exposure data consisting of match and training times per team (expressed in hours), was extrapolated from attendance sheets(completed by academy staff). Analysis of data was done using the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) versionl6. Descriptive data was expressed as means, percentages, frequencies and standard deviations. Inferential statistics (chi -square analysis) was used to determine if correlations exist between injury incidence and demographic factors and exposure time. An alpha level was set at 0.05. Relative risk was calculated with a 95olo confidence interval and significance set at ( p < 0.05). 387 injuries were documented at the academy over the study period. The total exposure time was 42 424 hours , with 4 666 (match) and 37 758 (training) hours. A systematic literature review on injury prevention strategies in youth football was conducted. Written permission and ethical approval was sought from the higher degrees committee of the University of the Western Cape ,as well as from the head of the Ajax Cape Town football club youth academy, prior to commencing the research. Ethical considerations with regards to confidentiality, anonymity and permission was be strictly observed.
Results : The resultant overall injury incidence rate at the academy was 9.12 injuries per 1000 hours exposure per player .The ul3 category had significantly higher injury rates for both match(97.50 injuries per 1000 hours exposure; p:0.02) and training(I0.92 injuries per 1000 hours
exposure; p = 0.01) than the u15 &17 , and u 19 categories respectively. The u15 & 17 category played the most number of matches (n=76;36.55%), followed by the u13 category (n= 70;33.65 %) and the ul9 category (n= 62; 29.80 %) . The knee (21 .70yo), ankle (19.89 o/o), and hip/groin (15 .24 o/r) were the most frequently injured areas. The u13 category had a higher risk of sustaining a knee injury than the u15 & 17 category (R.R : 1.43 ; p: 0.017 ;95% Cl1.09 - 1.87) Conclusion: The overall injury incidence rate at the Ajax Cape Town football club youth
academy was high. The u13 category was most at risk of sustaining injury. There was a definite inverse relationship between exposure time and injury incidence at the academy. The outcomes of the study as well as the results of the systematic literature review was then used to design an injury prevention strategy. A Delphi study was conducted to gain consensus on the content of the proposed injury prevention strategy. Multi- component neuromuscular control training programs appear to be most effective at reducing the risk of injury in youth football players. | en_US |
