External Training Loads and Soft-Tissue Injury Occurrence During Congested Versus Noncongested Periods in Football.

Objective: To analyze the influence of congested and noncongested fixture periods during 2 seasons in a professional male football team on soft-tissue injury incidence and external load.

Methods: Thirty-three professional football players from a Portuguese Liga I team participated in this study. Weekly external load and soft-tissue injury rate and burden of 2 consecutive seasons (2021-22 and 2022-23) were analyzed.

Neuromuscular changes in football players with previous hamstring injury.

Background: Impact of prior injury on myoelectrical activity of the hamstrings during isokinetic eccentric contractions has received increased literature attention. This cross-sectional study aimed to assess neuromuscular adaptations, namely proprioception, core stability, muscle strength, extensibility and activity, in football players with history of hamstring strain injury.

Methods: Seventeen players, 10 with history of hamstring injury and 7 without prior injury underwent isokinetic strength testing, eccentric knee extension at 30 and 120°/s.

Mechanical Player Load™ using trunk-mounted accelerometry in football: Is it a reliable, task- and player-specific observation?

The aim of the present study was to examine reliability and construct convergent validity of Player Load™ (PL) from trunk-mounted accelerometry, expressed as a cumulative measure and an intensity measure (PL · min). Fifteen male participants twice performed an overground football match simulation that included four different multidirectional football actions (jog, side cut, stride and sprint) whilst wearing a trunk-mounted accelerometer inbuilt in a global positioning system unit. Results showed a moderate-to-high reliability as indicated by the intra-class correlation coefficient (0.

Calf injuries in professional football: Treat the patient or the scan? - A case study.

Objective: To describe a case of a professional football player with significant imaging findings despite a rather innocuous clinical presentation with gradual onset of calf pain and who was able to continue training and playing with minor medical intervention. To discuss some of the limitations of existing muscle injury grading systems and their potential to cover the full range of injury presentations for calf injuries.

Design: Case report.

Case study: Muscle atrophy and hypertrophy in a premier league soccer player during rehabilitation from ACL injury.

The onset of injury and subsequent period of immobilization and disuse present major challenges to maintenance of skeletal muscle mass and function. Although the characteristics of immobilization-induced muscle atrophy are well documented in laboratory studies, comparable data from elite athletes in free-living conditions are not readily available. We present a 6-month case-study account from a professional soccer player of the English Premier League characterizing rates of muscle atrophy and hypertrophy (as assessed by DXA) during immobilization and rehabilitation after ACL injury.