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.

The impact of a mid-season FIFA World Cup™ on injury occurrence and patterns in French professional soccer clubs.

This study retrospectively compared the effect of holding the 2022 FIFA World Cup™ (WC) mid-season (season 2022/23) on injury rates and patterns in French Ligue 1 soccer clubs. Epidemiological data in 17 clubs were prospectively recorded by their physicians. Time-loss injuries (injuries leading to a player being unable to fully participate in play over the following 72-hour period) were compared with those reported during a regular season (2021-22).

Determination of the Prevalence of Knee and Hip Clinical Osteoarthritis in the Active Professional Male Footballer and Its Association with Pain, Function, Injury and Surgery.

Objective: To comment on and explore (1) the prevalence of clinical knee and hip osteoarthritis (OA); (2) the association between pain or function and clinical knee or hip OA; (3) the association between injury or surgery and clinical knee or hip OA.

Methods: Participants were recruited from FIFPRO members. A total of 101 footballers consented to answer (1) a developed questionnaire, (2) patient-reported outcome measures, and (3) be evaluated by their team physician for clinical knee or hip OA.

[Hamstring muscle injury in football players. Part 2 : preventive strategies].

Prevention of hamstring injuries represents an important issue for football players and clubs. Preventive strategies can be effective if they include multiple dimensions and are well-structured. Five points appear essential in order to obtain a high-quality preventive strategy: progressive muscle strengthening, optimal workload management, lumbopelvic stability exercises, development of physical condition and optimization of sprint technique.

[Hamstring muscle injury in football players - Part I : epidemiology, risk factors, injury mechanisms and treatment].

Due to its high frequency and recurrence rate, hamstring injury represents an important issue in football currently. The mechanisms of injury and the main modifiable and non-modifiable risk factors are now well documented and should allow the implementation of effective preventive strategies. In the treatment of the injured player, the physician will have to rely on a close collaboration with a quality sports physiotherapist and implement a series of key elements allowing an optimal return to the soccer field, which means at the same level of performance compared to the pre-injury period and with a minimal risk of recurrence.

Incidence and characteristics of COVID-19 in French professional football players during the 2020-2021 season.

Objectives: To describe the epidemiology of COVID-19 in French professional football players, and to compare the infection incidence with the general population across the first three waves.

Methods: During the 2020-2021 season, all professional football players (n = 1217) in the two primary French leagues underwent weekly testing for SARS-CoV-2 infection by nasopharyngeal PCR, in combination with rigorous infection control measures.

Results: Among all players, 572 (47%) tested positive at least once, with no COVID-19-related death or hospital admission.

A retrospective analysis of all-cause and cause-specific mortality rates in French male professional footballers.

This study retrospectively compared all-cause and cause-specific mortality in French male professional football players with data from France's national population. Altogether, 6114 individuals born in Metropolitan France or in one of its overseas territories who played at least one competitive match in France's professional football championships between January 1, 1968 and December 31, 2015, were identified and followed up for vital status obtained from a national reference database until December 31, 2015. Data on all-cause and cause-specific mortality were subsequently compared to the expected number of deaths for the national population after standardization for the year, age, and sex.

Injury rates and patterns in French male professional soccer clubs: a comparison between a regular season and a season in the Covid-19 pandemic.

This study investigated time-loss injury occurrence and patterns between the first season (2020/21, S2) completed during the Covid-19 pandemic (longer pre-season following cancellation of the 2019/20 season but shorter duration) and a regular season (2018/19, S1) in French Ligue 1 and 2 professional soccer clubs. Epidemiological data were prospectively recorded in a national injury database by each club's physician. In all clubs combined, the mean number of injuries per club was 31.

Concussion in European professional football: a view of team physicians.

Objectives: The objective was to explore the view and thoughts of physicians working in professional football about several aspects (eg, education and use of video footages) likely to enhance concussions' recognition and on-field management.

Methods: An observational study based on a cross-sectional design by means of an electronic survey was conducted among physicians working for a professional football club in Belgium, England or France.

Results: A total of 96 physicians (95% male; mean age: 44 years) completed the survey.

The Effects of Menstrual Cycle Phase on Elite Athlete Performance: A Critical and Systematic Review.

: In elite athletes, training individualization is widely recommended to optimize competitive performance. Previous studies have evidenced the impact of hormonal fluctuations on different performance parameters among female athletes. While consideration of menstrual cycle (MC) phases as a parameter in training individualization strategies is necessary, systematic evidence identifying such impacts in elite athletes should be evaluated.

Video analysis of concussion mechanisms and immediate management in French men's professional football (soccer) from 2015 to 2019.

In this study, the concussion mechanisms were analyzed in male professional competition football, with the main objective to specify the frequency of head-to-head impact, and immediate management of the concussed players was described in order to check its compliance with the recommendations of football's governing bodies. Based on continuously recorded data from the French Football Federation (FFF), a retrospective database of all reported concussions during matches in the 1 and 2 French Male leagues was generated comprising seasons 2015/16-2018/19. Injury mechanisms, playing action, immediate medical assessment and management of concussed players, and foul play-referee's decision, were analyzed from video recordings.

Does an Optimal Relationship Between Injury Risk and Workload Represented by the "Sweet Spot" Really Exist? An Example From Elite French Soccer Players and Pentathletes.

Objective: To examine the relationships between the occurrence and severity of injuries using three workload ratios (ACWR, EWMA, REDI) in elite female soccer players and international male and female pentathletes.

Materials And Methods: Female soccer players in the U16 to U18 national French teams ( = 24) and international athletes ( = 12, 4 women and 8 men) in the French modern pentathlon team were monitored throughout an entire season. The Acute Chronic Workload Ratio (ACWR), the Exponentially Weighted Moving Averages (EWMA), and the Robust Exponential Decreasing Index (REDI) were calculated for internal load by the ROE method in soccer and external load in pentathlon.

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.

Effect of an injury prevention program on muscle injuries in elite professional soccer.

Due to the continual physical, physiological, and psychological demands of elite level soccer increasing the incidence and risk of injuries, preventative training programs have become a common feature of soccer players training schedule. The aim of the current investigation was to examine the effectiveness of a structured injury prevention program on the number of muscle injuries and the total number of injuries within elite professional soccer. The present study was conducted over 2 consecutive seasons, of which the first (2008-2009) being the intervention season and the second the control season (2009-2010).

The effects of a congested fixture period on physical performance, technical activity and injury rate during matches in a professional soccer team.

Background: In modern professional soccer, the ability to recover from official match-play and intense training is often considered a determining factor in subsequent performance.

Objective: To investigate the influence of playing multiple games with a short recovery time between matches on physical activity, technical performance and injury rates.

Methods: The variation of physical (overall distance, light-intensity, low-intensity, moderate-intensity and high-intensity running) and technical performance (successful passes, balls lost, number of touches per possession and duels won) of 16 international players was examined during three different congested periods of matches (six games in 18 days) from the French League and Cup (n=12), and the UEFA Champions' League (n=6) during the 2011-2012 season and compared with that reported in matches outside these periods.

A four-season prospective study of muscle strain reoccurrences in a professional football club.

The aim of this investigation was to characterise muscle strain reinjuries and examine their impact on playing resources in a professional football club. Muscle strains and reoccurrences were prospectively diagnosed over four seasons in first-team players (n = 46). Altogether, 188 muscle strains were diagnosed with 44 (23.

A three-year prospective study of illness in professional soccer players.

The aim of this study was to investigate rates and patterns of illness in professional soccer and their impact on playing resources. Illnesses were prospectively diagnosed over three seasons in first-team professional soccer players (n = 81) by the club's physician. A total of 203 illnesses were diagnosed with a mean of 2.

Variation in body composition in professional soccer players: interseasonal and intraseasonal changes and the effects of exposure time and player position.

The aim of this study was to examine variations in measures of body composition in elite soccer players. Skinfolds and measures of body mass (BM) recorded on a monthly basis across an entire competitive season in a group of senior professional players (n = 26) were used to estimate percentage body fat (%BF) and provide fat-free body mass (FFBM) values. Mean values in players were compared between 6 specific positional roles (goalkeepers, central and lateral defenders/midfielders and center-forwards).

Longitudinal variation of hemoglobin and reticulocytes in elite rowers.

Longitudinal monitoring of athlete's hematologic parameters holds considerable promise as a strategy to detect and thereby deter illicit blood doping. This study documents temporal changes of hemoglobin concentration (Hb) and reticulocyte counts in elite rowers. The 'within subject' variation in rowers was comparable to that of athletes from other sports.