Injury Prevention in Children´s Football

Playing football can induce considerable beneficial health effects, but is also a high-intensity and high-impact sport with many situations of direct contact between players which bear the risk of injury. Thus, it is necessary to implement preventive measures to reduce the risk of injury and support the health benefits. Injury characteristics of players older than 13 years are similar to adult players and, thus, similar preventive measures are beneficial. Younger players seem to show partly different injury characteristics. Consequently, preventive programmes proven effective in late adolescent or adult players need to be adapted for younger age groups. To date, no study investigated the prevention of football injuries in children under the age of 13 years. We aim to assess the effectiveness of an exercise-based prevention program to reduce football-related injuries in children younger than 13 years. The primary outcome in this study is the overall injury rate. Secondary outcomes are the rate of severe injuries and acute injuries. The study is designed as a two-armed cluster-randomized controlled trial. We will recruit 9 to 12 years old children (boys and girls, born 2002 to 2005) participating in regular training and match play in an officially registered football club in Switzerland (further study centres are located in the Netherlands, Germany and the Czech Republic). The chosen age group is usually subdivided into two age categories (9/10 years, 11/12 years). Recruitment will take place via the national and regional football associations. Inclusion criteria are: the clubs must be officially registered in the regional football association, children must be between 9 and 12 years old at the start of the study and regular training must take place at least twice per week. Teams will be excluded, if the coaches already perform a structured warm-up focusing on neuromuscular control or an existing injury prevention programme. Injury surveillance will include a b