How is training to prevent knee injury used within youth female soccer in Sweden and Australia? A cross-sectional study

Sammanfattning: TITLE How is training to prevent knee injury used within youth female soccer in Sweden and Australia? A cross-sectional study. BACKGROUND Female soccer players have a higher risk than males of sustaining a severe knee injury, including injury to the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). Injury prevention training programs are effective in reducing the number of ACL injuries in female soccer players, however, it is largely unknown whether such programs are implemented in the soccer practice. AIMS The aims were to identify to which extent and how ACL injury prevention training is used within youth female soccer teams in Sweden and Australia, assess any differences between these countries in use of injury prevention training, and to identify education and opinions about ACL injury prevention training. STUDY DESIGN A cross-sectional study. PARTICIPANTS AND METHODS Data was collected through a web-based questionnaire, specifically developed for the study. Participants were head coaches of youth female soccer players aged 13-17 years old in Sweden (n=23) and Australia (n=4). ETHICAL ASPECTS The participants were informed that participation is completely anonymous and voluntary. RESULTS All teams except one used injury prevention training at least once a week. Fifteen of the 23 (65%) Swedish coaches, and one of the four (25%) Australian coaches, had taken injury prevention training courses. Most coaches (70%) stated that the training consisted of a standardized program, which for the majority (89%) took about 5-15 minutes to complete. A commonly stated advantage about the injury prevention training was that it decreases the number of injuries. The main disadvantage was that the players find it boring. CONCLUSION A majority used a standardized training program which the coaches got access to through a course. However, any conclusion on possible differences between Sweden and Australia cannot be made due to the small sample of Australian participants. The path of education was similar among the coaches and most of them had mainly positive opinions about injury prevention training.