Female elite football players experience a high incidence of injuries, particularly to the knee and during game time, highlighting the need for targeted injury prevention strategies.
Injury occurrence in all 12 female elite senior football teams in premiere league was registered during 1 year. Of 269 players, 129 (48%) sustained 237 injuries. The total injury incidence was 4.6/1000 h of football. The injury incidence during practice was 2.7 and during the game time was 13.9/1000 h. The highest injury incidence during practice was to the knee (0.8/1000 h) and thigh (0.5/1000 h), and during game time was to the knee (4.4/1000 h) and head (2.2/1000 h). In total, the location for the highest injury incidence was the knee with 1.5 injuries/1000 h of football. The majority of injuries (82%) were localized to the lower extremities. Sixty-six injuries (28%) were re-occurring injuries (re-injuries). The incidence of traumatic injuries was 3.3/1000 h of football and for overuse injuries 1.3/1000 h. Overuse injuries occurred mainly during the preseason and at the beginning of the spring season. Thirty-nine percent of the injuries were slight or minor causing absence from practice or game time of less than 1 week, 39% were moderate (absence 7-28 days) and 22% were major (absence more than 28 days). The major injuries occurred often owing to trauma and were mainly to the knee.
Jacobson et al. (Wed,) studied this question.