Normal hip strength and range of motion values in youth and adult female national football teams: Data from 504 assessments.

Objectives: To determine normal hip adduction- and abduction strength and range of motion (ROM) values for youth and adult female national team football players, and evaluate if increasing age, playing position and leg dominance were associated with these strength and ROM values.

Design: Cohort study.

Setting: National football center.

Unmasking mental health symptoms in female professional football players: a 12-month follow-up study.

Objective: To calculate the prevalence rates of mental health symptoms among female professional football players over a 12-month period and to explore the associations of severe injury and related surgery with mental health symptoms among female professional footballers.

Methods: An observational prospective cohort study was conducted over a 12-month follow-up period by distributing an electronic questionnaire three times. The questionnaire was based on validated screening tools for assessing mental health symptoms.

Discriminative validity of summarized hip and knee angular accelerations for lower extremity training load quantification in male soccer players during a standardised training drill.

This study assessed the discriminative validity of summarized hip and knee angular accelerations during a standardized training drill. Twenty-eight soccer players performed a standardized training drill that mimics game demands. Discriminative validity was examined by assessment of between-group differences of summarized preferred kicking leg hip and knee angular accelerations, and Playerload between national and regional soccer players for the full training drill, and parts based on locomotor intensity, or additional pass and jumping header activities.

Growth-related sports injuries among young male professional football players in the Netherlands: a prospective cohort study concerning injury incidence, severity and burden.

Objectives: To investigate the incidence, type and location of growth-related sports injuries (GRSI) in youth professional football in the Netherlands. Secondary, to gain more knowledge on the injury severity and burden of GRSI.

Methods: In this prospective, longitudinal cohort study, 813 players aged 10-18 are included.

The Effect of the Nordic Hamstring Exercise on Muscle Activity: A Multichannel Electromyography Randomized Controlled Trial.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of a Nordic hamstring exercise intervention on biceps femoris long head, semitendinosus, and semimembranosus muscle's activity and relative contributions through multichannel electromyography. Twenty-four injury-free male basketball players (mean age 20 [3] y) were randomly assigned to a 12-week intervention (n = 13) or control group (n = 11). The primary outcome measures were normalized muscle activity (percentage of maximal voluntary isometric contraction, %MVIC) and relative contribution of hamstring muscles over 12 weeks.

Activity Distribution Among the Hamstring Muscles During the Nordic Hamstring Exercise: A Multichannel Surface Electromyography Study.

This study assessed activity distribution among the hamstring muscles during the Nordic hamstring exercise (NHE). The objective was to compare muscle activity between and within muscles during the NHE to add insights in its underlying protective mechanism. Through multichannel electromyography, we measured muscle activity in male basketball players during the NHE.

Construct Validity and Test-Retest Reliability of Hip Load Compared With Playerload During Football-Specific Running, Kicking, and Jumping Tasks.

Purpose: To determine the test-retest reliability of the recently developed Hip Load metric, evaluate its construct validity, and assess the differences with Playerload during football-specific short-distance shuttle runs.

Methods: Eleven amateur football players participated in 2 identical experimental sessions. Each session included 3 different shuttle runs that were performed at 2 pace-controlled running intensities.

Study on Hamstring Re-injury Prevention (SHARP): protocol for an international multicentre, randomised controlled trial.

Introduction: Previous studies showed that the Nordic hamstring exercise (NHE) effectively prevents primary hamstring injury. However, no study investigated the secondary preventing effect of the NHE on hamstring reinjury. The primary purpose of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of the NHE for preventing hamstring reinjury after return to play (RTP) following a hamstring injury in football players.

Heading Exposure in Elite Football (Soccer): A Study in Adolescent, Young Adult, and Adult Male and Female Players.

Purpose: This study aims to quantify heading exposure in real-life elite football at the level of individual male and female adolescents, young adults, and adults.

Methods: Heading exposure was determined by video analysis in combination with a structured electronic registration tool and observation training, to comprehensively register heading characteristics. Characteristics of heading events were registered in 116 official matches (96 male, 20 female) of Dutch national teams.

Screening for SARS-CoV-2 infection in asymptomatic individuals using the Panbio COVID-19 antigen rapid test (Abbott) compared with RT-PCR: a prospective cohort study.

Background: Antigen-based point-of-care tests for identification of SARS-CoV-2 may markedly enhance effectiveness of population-based controlling strategies. Previous studies have demonstrated >70% sensitivity and high specificity compared with reverse transcriptase real-time PCR (RT-PCR) in symptomatic individuals, but test performance for asymptomatic individuals is unknown.

Methods: Test performance of the Panbio COVID-19 Ag Rapid Test (Abbott) was compared with RT-PCR in a longitudinal cohort study of asymptomatic football players and staff members of professional football clubs.

Associations between Hamstring Fatigue and Sprint Kinematics during a Simulated Football (Soccer) Match.

Purpose: Neuromuscular fatigue is considered to be important in the etiology of hamstring strain injuries in football. Fatigue is assumed to lead to decreases in hamstring contractile strength and changes in sprinting kinematics, which would increase hamstring strain injury risk. Therefore, the aim was to examine the effects of football-specific fatigue on hamstring maximal voluntary torque (MVT) and rate of torque development (RTD), in relation to alterations in sprinting kinematics.

Reliability of a novel dynamic test of postural stability in high-level soccer players.

Postural stability of athletes is commonly tested with single-leg stance (SLS) tests. However, for this population, these tests are insufficiently challenging to achieve high sensitivity. Therefore, a new dynamic SLS test based on standardized translational surface perturbations was developed.

An Inertial Measurement Unit Based Method to Estimate Hip and Knee Joint Kinematics in Team Sport Athletes on the Field.

Current athlete monitoring practice in team sports is mainly based on positional data measured by global positioning or local positioning systems. The disadvantage of these measurement systems is that they do not register lower extremity kinematics, which could be a useful measure for identifying injury-risk factors. Rapid development in sensor technology may overcome the limitations of the current measurement systems.

Inertial Sensor-Based Motion Tracking in Football with Movement Intensity Quantification.

Inertial sensor-based measurements of lower body kinematics in football players may improve physical load estimates during training sessions and matches. However, the validity of inertial-based motion analysis systems is specific to both the type of movement and the intensity at which movements are executed. Importantly, such a system should be relatively simple, so it can easily be used in daily practice.

Monitoring the health of transitioning professional footballers: protocol of an observational prospective cohort study.

Introduction: Transitioning out of professional football is a challenging time in most players' lives. During these preretirement and postretirement years, professional footballers may struggle with their mental, musculoskeletal, neurocognitive and cardiovascular health. Currently, longitudinal data about these health conditions are lacking.

Educational concussion module for professional footballers: from systematic development to feasibility and effect.

Objectives: To describe: (1) how we developed a concussion module and (2) whether the concussion module is feasible (in terms of relevance, added value and suitability) and enhances knowledge and changes attitude of professional footballers about concussion.

Developing The Concussion Module: We developed the concussion module based on two structured and systematic processes. First, our needs assessment (questionnaire and interviews) in professional football (especially players) revealed that a 5-10 min concussion module was needed, ideally disseminated during club visits.

Empowering the health of retired professional footballers: the systematic development of an After Career Consultation and its feasibility.

Objectives: This article describes (1) the systematic development of the intervention and (2) the assessment of its feasibility (in terms of relevancy, suitability, satisfaction and added value).

Methods: The intervention was developed based on the first four steps of the Intervention Mapping and Knowledge Transfer Scheme processes. Subsequently, a qualitative research based on a one-group post-test cross-sectional design was conducted.

Does a bounding exercise program prevent hamstring injuries in adult male soccer players? - A cluster-RCT.

Background: Although the Nordic Hamstring Exercise (NHE) prevents hamstring injury in soccer players effectively, the annual incidence of these injuries still increases. This may be because of poor long-term compliance with the program. Furthermore, the timing and amplitude of gluteal and core muscle activation seem to play an important role in hamstring injury prevention, the NHE program was not designed to improve activation of these muscles.

The preventive effect of a soccer-specific ankle brace on acute lateral ankle sprains in girls amateur soccer players: study protocol of a cluster-randomised controlled trial.

Background: Acute lateral ankle sprains are the single most often diagnosed injury in female soccer players and often result in an inability to play. This highlights the need for effective prevention strategies. Proprioceptive training and/or the use of an external support to decrease inversion of the ankle joint can prevent or reduce the number of acute lateral ankle sprains.

Return to play after hamstring injuries in football (soccer): a worldwide Delphi procedure regarding definition, medical criteria and decision-making.

There are three major questions about return to play (RTP) after hamstring injuries: How should RTP be defined? Which medical criteria should support the RTP decision? And who should make the RTP decision? The study aimed to provide a clear RTP definition and medical criteria for RTP and to clarify RTP consultation and responsibilities after hamstring injury. The study used the Delphi procedure. The results of a systematic review were used as a starting point for the Delphi procedure.

No Effect of Generalized Joint Hypermobility on Injury Risk in Elite Female Soccer Players: A Prospective Cohort Study.

Background: Although it has been suggested that generalized joint hypermobility (GJH) is a risk factor for injury in soccer players, it remains unclear whether this applies to elite female soccer players.

Purpose: To investigate whether GJH is a risk factor for injury in elite female soccer players.

Study Design: Cohort study; Level of evidence, 2.