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Abstract
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The COVID-19 pandemic affects sports participation
The Dutch Sports Participation Index showed a dramatic decrease in sports participation over 2020 and 2021 of up to 15% per month in the total population aged 5-80 years.1 This decrease can be related to closure of sporting grounds and fitness centres, as well as the widespread advice to avoid live human interaction in striving to reduce the spread of coronavirus. Although many started a new type of sport or took part in unorganised physical activities, 22% were still less active than before the pandemic. Restricted sports participation is also associated with mental health issues, more in individual than in team sport athletes.
Changes in sports participation and injury
Up until now, the COVID-19 pandemic (in)directly influenced most athletes, their teams and stakeholders. Athletes intermittently had to withdraw from training or match play, due to positive testing or ongoing changes of governmental regulations. Competitions were interrupted and matches and tournaments were postponed or cancelled. The urge of sport federations to complete competition schedules after lockdown periods conflicts with the need for adequate preparation time. Individual and team performances as well as competition outcomes may have been affected by consecutive changes in training and match play loads, which have put athletes' health at risk. Common concepts of sports participation fluctuation and associations with injury likely apply. After a period of rest between competitive seasons, a new (pre) season start is associated with increased levels of symptoms, injury incidence and burden,3 but these usually lower again during the season.
Likely due to team sport restrictions, the numbers of runners increased in The Netherlands. This as well as novice runners being more prone to injury4 are thought to be the main drivers of the reported 40% increase of running-related injuries in 2020 (1.1 million) compared with 2019 (780 000).5 These are mostly overuse injuries, related to the lower extremity in general. Although more troublesome for athletes are the severe acute injuries (ie, from the ankle and knee). These result in longer absence from sports requiring lengthy rehabilitation periods or additional medical treatment.6
The 2011 NFL lockout of 20 weeks is a well-known example of sport cessation of a large group of professional athletes. Consequently, players had unstructured season preparation and a fourfold increase of acute Achilles...
Language: en |