There is an explanation for the injury epidemic in women’s soccer

A report by the World Players Association says increased workload, travel and insufficient rest are leading to an increase in injuries such as anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tears among female professional athletes. Fipro.

Of the 139 elite major league players from England, France, Germany and Spain analyzed over the past two seasons, 58 were injured, highlighting how playing for both club and country increases the risk of injury. It shows. Lower limbs.

The most frequent injuries were to the knee (32%) and thigh (29%). Twelve of the injuries were to his ACL (14%) and 19 were to his hamstring (23%). ACL injuries will be a theme at the 2023 Women’s World Cup as a number of top players are sidelined with injury, including England’s Beth Mead and Leah Williamson, the Netherlands’ Vivianne Miedema and Canada’s Janine Beckie. became.

FIFPRO research shows that athletes with anterior cruciate ligament injuries play more games, often take less than five days of rest between games, and are more likely than non-injured players to The four week break was short. They also traveled farther and longer and crossed more time zones.

FIFPRO Medical Director Vincent Guteberge, who conducted the study along with FIFPRO Sports Science Consultant Steve Den Hollander, said that while the data was not as strong as they had hoped, the findings do show that the match schedule is condensed. This suggests that this is related to the frequency of matches. injury. , especially anterior cruciate ligament injuries.

Coach Den Hollander said: “Providing healthy playing conditions for football players not only requires a more balanced match schedule to be coordinated between domestic and international stakeholders, but also due to travel demands and player demand. “The quality of the multidisciplinary team that manages it must also be considered.” press release.

The consensus among sports scientists and athletes with anterior cruciate ligament injuries is that there are multiple risk factors. “That’s why it’s so important to improve the player’s conditioning: rest, movement, the surface he plays on and of course studying all of that,” Spanish midfielder Alexia Putelas told FIFPRO. “Recently, players have started to go professional in this sport, but there hasn’t been much time to do this kind of research or find out a little bit more about the bodies of soccer players and athletes. I think these are things that are needed. “Improved.” ”