title: Evaluating a standardised tool to explore the nature and extent of foot and ankle injuries in amateur and semi-professional footballers.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Most studies of football injuries include professional players and data have been collected in without a single validated, standardised tool. We aimed to develop a new standardised questionnaire for assessing injuries among non-professional footballers and pilot its use.
  
  
  METHODS
  A questionnaire was developed using input from footballers, healthcare professionals and triangulation from the literature. The new tool was piloted among players representing amateurs and semi-professionals. Their comments were used iteratively to improve the instrument.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The development phase produced a 33-item questionnaire collecting quantitative and qualitative data. In the pilot phase, 42 questionnaires were distributed, 34 (81%) returned. Respondents reported total of 273 football-related injuries, 114 affecting the foot/ankle (70 at the ankle and 44 at the foot). In total, 44% of respondents had suffered one or more foot/ankle injuries in the past 12 months.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We developed a new standardised tool which we found to be well-completed by young male footballers in semi-professional and amateur settings with an excellent response rate. Our results suggested that foot/ankle injuries were common, larger studies in non-professionals are needed to identify risk factors for injury and develop pragmatic advice for prevention.
authors.affiliation: Brighton & Sussex Medical School, Brighton, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Evans
authors.affiliation: MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit, University of Southampton, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Walker-Bone
authors.affiliation: School of Health Science, University of Brighton, United Kingdom. Electronic address: Simon.otter@aut.ac.nz.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Otter
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D016512:Ankle Injuries / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D018409:Foot Injuries / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010865:Pilot Projects; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012307:Risk Factors; D012916:Soccer / Q000293:injuries*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D006113:United Kingdom; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Ankle; Foot; Football; Injury; Soccer