Prevalence of football injuries in youth players: comparative study in different categories

Abstract

The popularity of the soccer, added to the high incidence of injuries, has been crescent object of interest of the health care teams. Several authors have investigated the frequency of lesions in young soccer players. However, the results of these studies are difficult to compare because of differences in the investigated age group and in the applied methods. The aim of the present study was to compare the incidence and the characteristics of injuries of the under 16 and under 18 categories. We performed a retrospective analysis of sporting injuries of athletes' medical records of two Brazilian teams during the soccer season in the year of 2003 in Minas Gerais. In the under 16 category 42.2% of the lesions didn't need removal. This rate was greater than that found in the under 18 category (26.9%). In addition, the number of injuries that resulted in removal for more than one month was substantially greater in the under 18 category (10.4%) in relation to the under 16 category (1.7%). We observed that the prevalence and characteristics of the injuries in athletes of different categories differ substantially from adult athletes. However, as athletes get older the rate of injuries approach the rate observed in adult teams. In spite of the largest prevalence rate, the under 16 category presents a greater injury percentage of injuries that did not need removal from sport activities.