Are severe musculoskeletal injuries associated wit

Authors: Vincent Gouttebarge Haruhito Aoki Jan Ekstrand Evert A L M Verhagen Gino M M J Kerkhoffs

Publish Date: 2015/08/02

Volume: 24, Issue: 12, Pages: 3934-3942

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Abstract

To explore the associations of severe musculoskeletal injuries joint and muscles and surgeries with symptoms of common mental disorders distress anxiety/depression sleeping disturbance adverse alcohol behaviour smoking adverse nutrition behaviour among male European professional footballersCrosssectional analyses were conducted on electronic questionnaires completed by professional footballers recruited from the national players’ unions of Finland France Norway Spain or Sweden The number of severe time loss of more than 28 days musculoskeletal injuries total joint muscle and surgeries during a professional football career was examined through four questions while symptoms of common mental disorders were evaluated through validated scalesA total of 540 professional footballers mean age of 27 years 54  playing in the highest leagues participated in the study Sixtyeight per cent of the participants had already incurred one or more severe joint injuries and 60  one or more severe muscle injuries Prevalence of symptoms of common mental disorders ranged from 3  for smoking to 37  for anxiety/depression and 58  for adverse nutrition behaviour The number of severe musculoskeletal injuries during a football career was positively correlated with distress anxiety and sleeping disturbance while the number of surgeries was correlated with adverse alcohol behaviour and smoking Professional footballers who had sustained one or more severe musculoskeletal injuries during their career were two to nearly four times more likely to report symptoms of common mental disorders than professional footballers who had not suffered from severe musculoskeletal injuriesIt can be concluded that the number of severe musculoskeletal injuries and surgeries during a career is positively correlated and associated with symptoms of common mental disorders among male European professional footballers This study emphasises the importance of applying a multidisciplinary approach to the clinical care and support of professional footballers especially when a player faces lengthy periods without training and competition as a consequence of recurrent severe joint or muscle injuriesDuring their career professional footballers soccer players are highly at risk of acute recurrent and severe musculoskeletal injuries 3 9 11 16 especially severe musculoskeletal injuries joint muscles can lead to long periods without training or competition to surgeries and in the worst case to early retirement from professional football 6 9 16 17 In the scientific literature several risk factors for the occurrence of injuries have been reported especially physical and environmental factors 9 11 12 In addition few authors have also suggested that the occurrence of musculoskeletal injuries could be explained by psychological predictors such as somatic and psychic trait anxiety life event stress trait irritability and ineffective coping 24 25 27In contrast to the extensive amount of information available about musculoskeletal injuries scientific information about the occurrence of symptoms of common mental disorders CMD among professional footballers is lacking 17 Symptoms of CMD can be classified in 20 different domains which include symptoms related to depression anxiety sleep neurocognition and substance abuse/addiction 2 The lack of scientific literature about the occurrence of symptoms of CMD in professional football is peculiar because like in elite athletes from other sport disciplines severe musculoskeletal injuries joint muscles occurring during a sport career can be considered to be major physical and psychosocial stressors that may induce symptoms of CMD 33 39 In a previous pilot study symptoms of distress anxiety/depression and substance abuse were found to be rather prevalent among current professional players 19 Consequently one might assume that the occurrence of these symptoms of CMD among professional footballers might be associated with the occurrence and recurrence of severe joint and muscles injuries sustained during a football career At the present time this potential relation of severe musculoskeletal injuries with symptoms of CMD has not been studied among European professional footballers Such a study is needed in order to explore the need of a multidisciplinary approach to the clinical care and support of professional footballersAccordingly the primary aim of the present study was to explore the associations of severe musculoskeletal injuries joint muscle and surgeries during a football career with symptoms of CMD distress anxiety/depression sleeping disturbance adverse alcohol behaviour smoking adverse nutrition behaviour among male European professional footballers The primary hypothesis being tested was that players who had sustained one or more severe musculoskeletal injuries during their career were more likely to report symptoms of CMD than players who had not suffered from severe musculoskeletal injuries during their career

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