TY - JOUR PY - 2020// TI - Injury analysis in professional soccer by means of media reports - only severe injury types show high validity JO - Open access journal of sports medicine A1 - Krutsch, Volker A1 - Grechenig, Stephan A1 - Loose, Oliver A1 - Achenbach, Leonard A1 - Zellner, Johannes A1 - Striegel, Heiko A1 - Alt, Volker A1 - Weber, Johannes A1 - Braun, Markus A1 - Gerling, Stephan A1 - Krutsch, Werner SP - 123 EP - 131 VL - 11 IS - N2 - PURPOSE: Injury data of professional soccer players obtained from media reports are frequently used in scientific research, but the accuracy of such data is still unclear. Patients and Methods: Injuries of professional soccer players of the German first and second league were documented by continuously screening media reports over one season (2015-2016). After the season, the validity of media-reported injuries was anonymously analyzed by the team physicians of 8 different soccer clubs. Results: A total of 255 injuries of 240 players of 8 professional soccer teams had been published online, of which 146 were confirmed by the team doctors as correct, yielding a rate of 57.3% of confirmed media-reported injuries. In addition, 92 injuries without media registration were detected and added to the online statistics, resulting in 347 injuries and an overall weak validity of media-based data of 42.1%. Statistical analysis showed that the validity of media-reported injury data depended on both the individual soccer club and the body site affected by injury: publications on knee injuries (78.2%) had a higher validity than those on foot injuries (46.2%), and publications on severe injuries had a higher validity (joint dislocation: 100%; ligament rupture: 82.9%; fracture: 73.3%) than those on minor injuries. Publications on specific severe soccer injuries, such as anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries, had a validity of 100%. Conclusion: Media-based injury data were only valid for a few severe injury types such as ACL injuries. In daily soccer routine and scientific research, media-based data should thus only be used in combination with specific criteria or verification processes.
Language: en
LA - en SN - 1179-1543 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.2147/OAJSM.S251081 ID - ref1 ER -