Citation

Thorborg K, Krommes KK, Esteve E, Clausen MB, Bartels EM, Rathleff MS. Br. J. Sports Med. 2017; 51(7): 562-571.

Affiliation

Department of Occupational Therapy and Physiotherapy, Aalborg University Hospital, Aalborg, Denmark.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, BMJ Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1136/bjsports-2016-097066

PMID

28087568

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of FIFA injury prevention programmes in football (FIFA 11 and FIFA 11+).

DESIGN: Systematic review and meta-analysis. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA FOR SELECTING STUDIES: Randomised controlled trials comparing the FIFA injury prevention programmes with a control (no or sham intervention) among football players. DATA SOURCES: MEDLINE via PubMed, EMBASE via OVID, CINAHL via Ebsco, Web of Science, SportDiscus and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, from 2004 to 14 March 2016.

RESULTS: 6 cluster-randomised controlled trials had assessed the effect of FIFA injury prevention programmes compared with controls on the overall football injury incidence in recreational/subelite football. These studies included 2 specific exercise-based injury prevention programmes: FIFA 11 (2 studies) and FIFA 11+ (4 studies). The primary analysis showed a reduction in the overall injury risk ratio of 0.75 (95% CI 0.57 to 0.98), p=0.04, in favour of the FIFA injury prevention programmes. Secondary analyses revealed that when pooling the 4 studies applying the FIFA 11+ prevention programme, a reduction in the overall injury risk ratio (incidence rate ratio (IRR) 0.61; 95% CI 0.48 to 0.77, p<0.001) was present in favour of the FIFA 11+ prevention programme. No reduction was present when pooling the 2 studies including the FIFA 11 prevention programme (IRR 0.99; 95% CI 0.80 to 1.23, p=0.940).

CONCLUSIONS: An injury-preventing effect of the FIFA injury prevention programmes compared with controls was shown in football. This effect was induced by the FIFA 11+ prevention programme which has a substantial injury-preventing effect by reducing football injuries by 39%, whereas a preventive effect of the FIFA 11 prevention programme could not be documented. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: PROSPERO CRD42015024120.

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Language: en

Keywords

Exercises; Football; Injury prevention