@article{ref1,
title="Injury profile in women's football: a systematic review and meta-analysis",
journal="Sports medicine",
year="2021",
author="Ayala, Francisco and De Ste Croix, Mark and Sainz de Baranda, Pilar and Aparicio-Sarmiento, Alba and Garcia-Gómez, Jose Alberto and Raya-González, Javier and López-Valenciano, Alejandro",
volume="ePub",
number="ePub",
pages="ePub-ePub",
abstract="BACKGROUND: Football is the most popular sport among women; however, little is known about the injury profile in this population. This information would help design  tailored injury risk mitigation strategies that may make football safer for women. <br><br>OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to perform a systematic review and  meta-analysis of epidemiological data of injuries in women´s football. <br><br>METHODS: A  systematic review following PRISMA guidelines was performed up to January 2020 in  PubMed, Web of Science, Sportdiscus and the Cochrane Library databases. Twenty-two  studies reporting the incidence of injuries in women football were analysed. Two  reviewers independently extracted data (intraclass correlation coefficient [ICC] for  inter-reviewer reliability = 0.87) and assessed study quality using the STROBE  statement, GRADE approach, Newcastle Ottawa Scale and Downs and Black assessment  tools. Studies were combined in pooled analyses (injury incidence and injury  proportion) using a Poisson random effects regression model. <br><br>RESULTS: The overall  incidence of injuries in female football players was 6.1 injuries/1000 h of  exposure. Match injury incidence (19.2 injuries/1000 h of exposure) was almost six  times higher than training injury incidence rate (3.5 injuries/1000 h of exposure). Lower extremity injuries had the highest incidence rates (4.8 injuries/1000 h of  exposure). The most common types of injuries were muscle/tendon (1.8 injuries/1000 h  of exposure) and joint (non-bone) and ligament (1.5 injuries/1000 h of exposure),  which were frequently associated with traumatic incidents. Slight/minimal injuries  (1-3 days of time loss) were the most common. The incidence rate of injuries during  matches in the top five world ranking leagues was higher than the rest of the  leagues (19.3 vs 10.7 injuries/1000 h of exposure, respectively). The weighted  injury proportion was 1.1 (95% confidence interval = 0.6-1.7) whereby on average  players sustained more than one injury per season. <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: Female football  players are exposed to a substantial risk of sustaining injuries, especially during  matches that require the highest level of performance. To markedly reduce overall  injury burden, efforts should focus on introducing and evaluating preventative  measures that target match specific dynamics to make football players more capable  of responding to the challenges that they have to deal with during match play. REGISTRATION: This systematic review was registered in the PROSPERO international  prospective register of systematic reviews (ID = CRD42019118152).  Keywords: Soccer<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0112-1642",
doi="10.1007/s40279-020-01401-w",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s40279-020-01401-w"
}