Volume 29, Issue 7
ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Involving research‐invested clinicians in data collection affects injury incidence in youth football

Eirik Halvorsen Wik

Corresponding Author

E-mail address: eirik.wik@aspetar.com

Aspetar Sports Injury and Illness Prevention Programme, Aspetar Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Hospital, Doha, Qatar

Oslo Sports Trauma Research Center, Department of Sports Medicine, Norwegian School of Sport Sciences, Oslo, Norway

Correspondence

Eirik Halvorsen Wik, Aspetar Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Hospital, Doha, Qatar.

Email: eirik.wik@aspetar.com

Search for more papers by this author
Olivier Materne

National Sports Medicine Programme, Aspetar Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Hospital, Doha, Qatar

Search for more papers by this author
Karim Chamari

Aspetar Sports Injury and Illness Prevention Programme, Aspetar Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Hospital, Doha, Qatar

Search for more papers by this author
Juan David Peña Duque

National Sports Medicine Programme, Aspetar Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Hospital, Doha, Qatar

Search for more papers by this author
Cosmin Horobeanu

National Sports Medicine Programme, Aspetar Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Hospital, Doha, Qatar

Search for more papers by this author
Benjamin Salcinovic

National Sports Medicine Programme, Aspetar Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Hospital, Doha, Qatar

Search for more papers by this author
Roald Bahr

Aspetar Sports Injury and Illness Prevention Programme, Aspetar Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Hospital, Doha, Qatar

Oslo Sports Trauma Research Center, Department of Sports Medicine, Norwegian School of Sport Sciences, Oslo, Norway

Search for more papers by this author
Amanda Johnson

National Sports Medicine Programme, Aspetar Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Hospital, Doha, Qatar

Search for more papers by this author
First published: 02 April 2019

Abstract

It is well established that differences in injury definition and recording methodology restrict comparisons between injury surveillance programmes. There is, however, little documentation of the variation that can exist between data recorders. The aim of this study was, therefore, to explore the effect on reported injuries when team recorders or supervisors are involved in research. Injury data collected prospectively over five seasons for the U16, U17, and U18 age groups in a youth football (soccer) academy were used to compare different recording settings based on the research involvement of the clinicians. A research‐invested team physiotherapist reported an 8.8 times greater incidence (P < 0.001) of non‐time‐loss injuries and a 2.5 times greater incidence (P < 0.001) of minimal injuries (1‐3 days lost) compared to a setting where neither the team physiotherapists nor the supervisor relied on the collected data for research purposes. When team physiotherapists were not invested in research themselves but were supervised by a researcher, the incidence of non‐time‐loss injuries and minimal injuries was 2.5 times (P < 0.001) and 2.0 times greater (P < 0.01) than in the non‐invested setting, respectively. However, there were no differences between recording settings for overall incidence of time‐loss injuries. The results from this study demonstrate that involving clinicians that are relying on the collected data for research purposes can significantly affect the reported rates of non‐time‐loss and minimal injuries. Time‐loss injuries overall were not affected by research investment, and should therefore be preferred for comparisons between teams and seasons.

The full text of this article hosted at iucr.org is unavailable due to technical difficulties.