Injury incidence, characteristics and burden among female sub-elite futsal players: a prospective study with three-year follow-up

The main purpose of the current study was to analyze the injury incidence, characteristics and burden among sub-elite female futsal players. Individual exposure to match play and training, injury incidence and characteristics (player position, injury mechanism, type of injuries, severity of injuries, recurrent versus new injuries, season variation of injury pattern) in a female futsal team were prospectively recorded for three consecutive seasons (2015-2018). Incidences were calculated per 1000 hours of exposure. A total of 30 injuries were reported during the three seasons within a total exposure of 4446.1 hours. The overall, match and training incidence of injuries were 6.7, 6.4 and 6.8 injuries/1000 hours of exposure, respectively. Most injuries had a non-contact mechanism (93%), with the lower extremity being the most frequently injured anatomical region (5.62 injuries/1000 hours of exposure). The most common type of injury was muscle/tendon (4.9 injuries/1000 hours of exposure) followed by joint (non-bone) and ligament (1.3 injuries/1000 hours of exposure). The injuries with the highest injury burden were those that occurred at the knee (31.9 days loss/1000 hours exposure), followed by quadriceps (15.3 day loss/1000 hours) and hamstring (14.4 day loss/1000 hours) strains. The first few weeks of competition after pre-season and soon after the Christmas break were the time points when most injuries occurred. These data indicate that sub-elite female futsal players are exposed to a substantial risk of sustaining an injury. To reduce overall injury burden, efforts should be directed toward the design, implementation and assessment of preventative measures that target the most common diagnoses, namely, muscle/tendon and ligament injuries.