Prevalence, severity and mechanism of acute injuries in elite male African youth soccer players

The study was conducted on 169 elite, male African youth soccer players (aged 14 to 18 years) from eleven African countries. Data were collected retrospectively and included prevalence of injuries over a two-season period. A self-administered questionnaire was used for data collection. Descriptive statistics, Chi-Square analysis and dependent t-tests were used for statistical analysis. Of the 169 players, a total of 132 players sustained 544 injuries with a prevalence rate of 78%. More injuries were recorded during training (55%) than competition (45%). The ankle (21% in training, 26% in competition) was the most affected site and the distribution of injuries according to body part was unrelated to playing position. This study reported a significantly higher incidence of injuries in midfielders (p<0.05). Minor injuries accounted for 50% and 52% of injuries in training and competition, respectively. The major mechanisms of injury in both training and competition were running, being tackled, tackling and shooting. Since the ankle joint was the most frequently injured body part, future studies designed to evaluate preventive strategies for ankle injuries are recommended.Keywords: Football, children, injury incidence, injury severity, injury mechanismAfrican Journal for Physical, Health Education, Recreation and Dance (AJPHERD) Vol. 18, No. 2 (June) 2012, pp. 329-34