London : Footballers’ injuries may be predicted by looking at their workloads during training and competition, according to a new study which used GPS to track players’ speed and acceleration. The greatest injury risk occurred when players accumulated a very high number of short bursts of speed during training over a three-week period, researchers found.
Researchers from University of Birmingham and Southampton Football Club in the UK analysed the performance of youth players and observed the links between training and injury. The findings provide a set of initial guidelines for helping to reduce the occurrence of injuries in elite youth football, researchers said.
They show that Global Positioning System (GPS) technology and accelerometres can be used to predict the risk of both contact and non-contact injuries.
The study is the first to monitor injury risk using the GPS technology used to track players’ speed and acceleration – from both training and competition in football. “Our research has huge practical and scientific application. It expands on a recent body of literature in rugby league and cricket which has proposed that the prescription of workloads may be more indicative of injury than the load itself,” said Laura Bowen from University of Birmingham. “The results of our study demonstrate this, with high, excessive workloads associated with the greatest injury risk. However, when the players were exposed to these high loads progressively, over a period of time, the risk of injury reduced significantly,” said Bowen. According to her, players who safely train harder may develop a greater resilience and tolerance for the intensity and fatigue of competition by increasing their physical capacities. The study used a range of player performance data gathered by GPS equipment worn by the players in training, including total distance covered; distance covered at high speed; total load experienced; and short bursts of speed. The data was then analysed in relation to ‘recordable injuries’, which caused an absence from football activity – classified as mild, moderate or severe – of anything from a couple of days to several weeks. The study found that high level of acceleration over a three-week training period was the strongest indicator of overall and non-contact injury risk.
High total distance (in excess of 112 kilometres) covered over a four-week period and high weekly total loads significantly increased the risk of overall and non-contact injuries. Moderate-to-high levels of distance covered at high speed resulted in higher overall and non-contact injury incidence respectively, the study found. Very high weekly total loads and intense levels of short bursts of speed were significantly related to a higher risk of contact injury, researchers said. The findings were published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.
