Mattia Zambaldi 1,2 , Ian Beasley 3 , Alison Rushton 2 Show Affiliations »
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Hamstring muscle injury (HMI) is the most common injury in professional football and has a high re-injury rate. Despite this, there are no validated criteria to support return to play (RTP) decisions. AIM: To use the Delphi method to reach expert consensus on RTP criteria after HMI in professional football. METHODS: All professional football clubs in England (n=92) were invited to participate in a 3-round Delphi study. Round 1 requested a list of criteria used for RTP decisions after HMI. Responses were independently collated by 2 researchers under univocal definitions of RTP criteria. In round 2 participants rated their agreement for each RTP criterion on a 1-5 Likert Scale. In round 3 participants re-rated the criteria that had reached consensus in round 2. Descriptive statistics and Kendall's coefficient of concordance enabled interpretation of consensus. RESULTS: Participation rate was limited at 21.7% (n=20), while retention rate was high throughout the 3 rounds (90.0%, 85.0%, 90.0%). Round 1 identified 108 entries with varying definitions that were collated into a list of 14 RTP criteria. Rounds 2 and 3 identified 13 and 12 criteria reaching consensus, respectively. Five domains of RTP assessment were identified: functional performance, strength, flexibility, pain and player's confidence. The highest-rated criteria were in the functional performance domain, with particular importance given to sprint ability. CONCLUSION: This study defined a list of consensually agreed RTP criteria for HMI in professional football. Further work is now required to determine the validity of the identified criteria. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2017. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.
BACKGROUND: Hamstring muscle injury (HMI ) is the most common injury in professional football and has a high re-injury rate. Despite this, there are no validated criteria to support return to play (RTP) decisions. AIM: To use the Delphi method to reach expert consensus on RTP criteria after HMI in professional football. METHODS: All professional football clubs in England (n=92) were invited to participate in a 3-round Delphi study. Round 1 requested a list of criteria used for RTP decisions after HMI . Responses were independently collated by 2 researchers under univocal definitions of RTP criteria. In round 2 participants rated their agreement for each RTP criterion on a 1-5 Likert Scale. In round 3 participants re-rated the criteria that had reached consensus in round 2. Descriptive statistics and Kendall's coefficient of concordance enabled interpretation of consensus. RESULTS: Participation rate was limited at 21.7% (n=20), while retention rate was high throughout the 3 rounds (90.0%, 85.0%, 90.0%). Round 1 identified 108 entries with varying definitions that were collated into a list of 14 RTP criteria. Rounds 2 and 3 identified 13 and 12 criteria reaching consensus, respectively. Five domains of RTP assessment were identified: functional performance, strength, flexibility, pain and player's confidence. The highest-rated criteria were in the functional performance domain, with particular importance given to sprint ability. CONCLUSION: This study defined a list of consensually agreed RTP criteria for HMI in professional football. Further work is now required to determine the validity of the identified criteria. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2017. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.
Entities: Disease
Species
Keywords:
Assessment; Consensus; Football; Hamstring; Muscle injury
Mesh： See more »
Year: 2017
PMID： 28246078 DOI： 10.1136/bjsports-2016-097131
Source DB: PubMed Journal: Br J Sports Med ISSN： 0306-3674 Impact factor: 13.800