Descriptive epidemiology of injuries in a Brazilian premier league soccer team

Rafael Júlio de Freitas Guina Fachina,^1,2 Marília dos Santos Andrade,³ Fernando Roberto Silva,⁴ Silas Waszczuk-Junior,⁴ Paulo César Montagner,¹ João Paulo Borin,¹ Claudio Andre Barbosa de Lira<sup>5

1</sup>Departamento de Ciência do Esporte, Faculdade de Educação Física, Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP), Campinas, Brazil; ²Confederação Brasileira de Basketball (CBB), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; ³Departamento de Fisiologia, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil; ⁴Grêmio Barueri Futebol LTDA, Barueri, Brazil; ⁵Setor de Fisiologia Humana e do Exercício, Universidade Federal de Goiás, Câmpus Jataí, Jataí, Brazil

Abstract: Soccer, which has a large number of participants, has a high injury incidence that causes both financial and time burdens. Therefore, knowledge about the epidemiology of soccer injuries could allow sports-medicine professionals, such as physicians and physiotherapists, to direct their work in specific preventive programs. Thus, our aim was to conduct an epidemiological survey of injuries sustained by professional soccer players from the same team who participated in the Brazilian championship premier league in 2009. To this end, we evaluated retrospectively player medical records from the team, which included name, date of birth, position, date of injury, mechanism of injury, and type of injury. In the period of study, 95 injuries were recorded: 42 (44.2%) were recorded during matches, and 53 (55.8%) during the training period. Injuries occurred more frequently in midfielders and strikers. All injuries happened in the lower limb, most of the injuries were muscular, and most occurred as the result of collisions with other athletes. In summary, this study demonstrates that there is a need for greater safety awareness in the training environment.

Keywords: injuries, epidemiology, soccer players