Injury rates following the COVID-19 lockdown: a case study from an UEFA futsal champions league finalist

• Spyrou, Konstantinos ^[1] ; Alcaraz, Pedro E. ^[1] ; Marín-Cascales, Elena ^[2] ; Herrero-Carrasco, Rubén ^[3] ; Pereira, Lucas A. ^[4] ; Loturco, Irineu ^[4] ; Freitas, Tomás T. ^[1]
  1. [1] Universidad Católica San Antonio

     Universidad Católica San Antonio

     Murcia, España

     
  2. [2] Strength & Conditioning Society, Rome, Italy
  3. [3] Research Group Murcia Soccer Federation, Murcia, Spain
  4. [4] NAR – Nucleus of High Performance in Sport, São Paulo, Brazil

  Mostrar afiliaciones +
• Localización: Apunts: Medicina de l'esport, ISSN 0213-3717, ISSN-e 1886-6581, Vol. 57, Nº 213, 2022
• Idioma: inglés
• Enlaces
  • Texto completo
• Dialnet Métricas: 3 Citas
• Resumen

  • Introduction: Recently, a pandemic disease (i.e., COVID-19) arose complicated conditions for players, clubs, and sports competitions. Most European countries postponed or canceled their respective leagues as players were forced into a long-term lockdown. This case study presents and compares the absolute and relative non-contact lower-limb injury rates and characteristics before and after the lockdown from a Finalist of the UEFA Futsal Champion League. Material and methods: Thirteen elite futsal players (age: 27 ± 2.8 years old; body mass: 76 ± 5.4 kg; height: 1.79 ± 0.1 m; body fat: 9 ± 1.6%) participated in this study. Injury severity, location, type, and mechanism were recorded. Data from the 6 weeks pre- and post-lockdown were collected, and injury rates were expressed per 1,000 training and match hours. Results: Chi-Square tests revealed a significant difference (p = 0.039) in the distribution of the number of injuries between the two moments. No overuse and non-contact injuries were observed during the 6 weeks before the lockdown. Nevertheless, 38% (i.e., 5) of the players suffered minimal severity (i.e., ≤ 3 days of court absence) overuse injuries in the hip/groin and thigh muscles post-home-confinement. Conclusions;

    Elite male futsal players sustained a substantially higher number of lower-body non-contact injuries after the lockdown. Practitioners should implement a thorough analysis of players’ neuromuscular qualities and fatigue to identify individual training and recovery needs and, thus, prescribe more tailored injury-reduction programs.