Sports injury prevention in youth football
| ISRCTN | ISRCTN14046021 |
|---|---|
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1186/ISRCTN14046021 |
| Protocol serial number | 04/11/2014 Pasanen |
| Sponsor | The Urho Kaleva Kekkonen (UKK) Institute for Health Promotion Research (Finland) |
| Funder | The Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture (Finland) |
- Submission date
- 04/11/2014
- Registration date
- 21/11/2014
- Last edited
- 29/01/2019
- Recruitment status
- No longer recruiting
- Overall study status
- Completed
- Condition category
- Injury, Occupational Diseases, Poisoning
Plain English summary of protocol
Background and study aims
Football (soccer) is the world’s most popular sport and it is the largest team sport in Finland. The risk of injury is relatively high in football compared to other sports. However, despite this, there has been little research into how to prevent football injuries in young players aged between 10-14 years. Here, we want to investigate whether a comprehensive warm-up programme (intervention) in youth football will prevent injuries. We also want to know whether the programme improves player performance, and how the teams carry out this warm up.
Who can participate?
The Eerikkilä Sports Institute in the City of Tammela is a national football training centre in Finland. In every second year, the centre recruits 20 youth football clubs with young female and male players (aged 10-14 years) for a comprehensive player-development follow-up program called Sami Hyypiä Academy (SHA). Each player who is an official member of the SHA and is not suffering from a major injury will be included in the study.
What does study involve?
All clubs participating in the SHA project are randomly allocated into either the intervention or the control group. All coaches in the intervention group attend a theoretical and practical session on how to prevent football injuries. They are all given a tablet computer containing guidelines and videos of the comprehensive warm-up programme. The programme consists of six different exercises with progression focusing on young players’ movement control, especially on core stability, knee control and ankle/foot function. Each team in the intervention group does the warm-up programme before football training sessions 2-3 times per week for 20 minutes. The teams in the control group are asked to continue their usual training. The study runs for 20 weeks.
What are the possible benefits and risks of participating?
The participating football clubs will receive an additional education session about the warm-up programme and the findings of the study. In addition, they will all be given a tablet computer and training materials by the research project. There are no obvious risks of physical injury in participating in this study. The warm-up training programme consists of basic exercises with low to moderate intensity. The main point in each exercise is to focus on safe technique. Taking previous injury prevention studies into account, no other risks seem to be likely.
Where is the study run from?
The study has been set up by the UKK Institute, Tampere, Finland in collaboration with the Sami Hyypiä Academy, Tammela, Finland.
When is the study starting and how long is it expected to run for?
January 2015 to June 2015.
Who is funding the study?
The Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture (Finland).
Who is the main contact?
Dr Kati Pasanen
kati.pasanen@ucalgary.ca
Contact information
Scientific
UKK Institute
PO.Box 30
Tampere
FIN-33501
Finland
| kati.pasanen@ucalgary.ca |
Study information
| Primary study design | Interventional |
|---|---|
| Study design | Cluster randomised controlled trial |
| Secondary study design | Cluster randomised trial |
| Study type | Participant information sheet |
| Scientific title | Sports injury prevention in youth football: a cluster randomised controlled trial |
| Study acronym | Terve Futaaja (Healthy Player) |
| Study objectives | It is hypothesised that by doing a comprehensive warm-up programme it is possible to decrease the incidence of sports injury. |
| Ethics approval(s) | The Ethics Committee of Pirkanmaa Hospital District, 13/09/2013, ref: ETL-code R13110 |
| Health condition(s) or problem(s) studied | Sports injuries |
| Intervention | Participating football clubs will be randomised into the intervention or control group. The intervention group will do a comprehensive warm-up programme designed to prevent sports injuries before football training sessions 2-3 times per week. The control group will be asked to do their usual training. The warm-up programme contains six different exercises with progression focusing on young players movement control, especially on core stability, knee control and ankle/foot function: 1. General warm-up exercise 2. Hip muscle exercise 3. Plank exercise 4. Single leg balance exercise 5. Single leg strengthening exercise 6. Single leg plyometric exercise |
| Intervention type | Behavioural |
| Primary outcome measure(s) |
Football related acute and overuse lower limb injuries. Data will be collected prospectively during the intervention period using weekly text messaging: Players/parents will respond to standardised text message question, followed by individual injury interview |
| Key secondary outcome measure(s) |
1. Any other injuries |
| Completion date | 07/06/2015 |
Eligibility
| Participant type(s) | Patient |
|---|---|
| Age group | Child |
| Lower age limit | 10 Years |
| Upper age limit | 14 Years |
| Sex | All |
| Target sample size at registration | 1500 |
| Key inclusion criteria | 1. Registered at the SHA 2. Willing to patricipate in the study 3. Female and male players aged 10-14 years |
| Key exclusion criteria | Major injury at the baseline |
| Date of first enrolment | 29/10/2014 |
| Date of final enrolment | 01/12/2014 |
Locations
Countries of recruitment
- Finland
- Norway
Study participating centres
FIN-33501
Finland
FIN-31370
Finland
FIN-40700
Finland
Oslo
0806
Norway
Finland
Results and Publications
| Individual participant data (IPD) Intention to share | No |
|---|---|
| IPD sharing plan summary | Not expected to be made available |
| IPD sharing plan |
Study outputs
| Output type | Details | Date created | Date added | Peer reviewed? | Patient-facing? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Results article | results | 01/02/2019 | 29/01/2019 | Yes | No |
| Participant information sheet | Participant information sheet | 11/11/2025 | 11/11/2025 | No | Yes |
Editorial Notes
29/01/2019: Publication reference added
