title: Recovery-stress balance and injury risk in professional football players: a prospective study.
abstract: Professional football is a contact sport with a high risk of injury. This study was designed to examine the contribution of stress and recovery variables as assessed with the Recovery-Stress Questionnaire for Athletes (RESTQ-Sport) to the risk of injury in professional football players. In a prospective, non-experimental cohort design, 22 professional football players in the highest German football league were observed over the course of 16 months. From January 2010 until April 2011, the players completed the RESTQ-Sport a total of 222 times in monthly intervals. In addition, injury data were assessed by the medical staff of the club. Overall, 34 traumatic injuries and 10 overuse injuries occurred. Most of the injuries were located in the lower limb (79.5%), and muscle and tendon injuries (43.2%) were the most frequently occurring injury type. In a generalised linear model, the stress-related scales Fatigue (OR 1.70, P = 0.007), Disturbed Breaks (OR 1.84, P = 0.047) and Injury (OR 1.77, P < 0.001) and the recovery-related scale Sleep Quality (OR 0.53, P = 0.010) significantly predicted injuries in the month after the assessment. These results support the importance of frequent monitoring of recovery and stress parameters to lower the risk of injuries in professional football.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience , Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University , Mannheim , Germany.
authors.forename: Philipp
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Laux
authors.affiliation: b Department of Biostatistics, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim , Heidelberg University , Mannheim , Germany.
authors.forename: Bertram
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Krumm
authors.affiliation: a Department of Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience , Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University , Mannheim , Germany.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Diers
authors.affiliation: a Department of Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience , Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University , Mannheim , Germany.
authors.forename: Herta
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Flor
mesh_terms: D003163:Competitive Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D012090:Cumulative Trauma Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D005221:Fatigue / Q000150:complications; D005858:Germany / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012916:Soccer / Q000293:injuries*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: injury risk; professional football; recovery; soccer; stress