title: Lower Back Symptoms in Adolescent Soccer Players: Predictors of Functional Recovery.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  There are little published data on factors relating to low back pain in the younger athletic population.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  Independent predictors of recovery and return to participation in sports could be determined by event analysis, which investigates the impacts of covariates, including age, position, and injury type, on the risk of delayed recovery after injury.
  
  
  METHODS
  Descriptive epidemiology study.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study examined 41 English Premiership soccer academy squads consisting of 12,306 player seasons for the incidence of lower back injury, injury severity, and investigated time to recovery in relation to potential risk factors. Injury risk was assessed for different times in a match and season, mechanism of injury, player position, player age, and competitive compared with noncompetitive play.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 310 (3.0% of all injuries sustained in the population) lumbar spine injuries were recorded. Overall, 10,265 training days (median, 14 days; interquartile range, 8-30 days) were lost. The risk of injury increased as the first half progressed and was maintained throughout the second half with a contact mechanism and with increasing age. Neither competitive play compared with noncompetitive play nor player position had an effect on injury incidence. Prognostic factors for poor recovery were bony injuries and increasing age.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings indicate that prolonged absence from training after a back injury is seen, especially in bony injuries and in older adolescents. It is suggested that there should be a low threshold for investigation of adolescent patients with back pain in the hope of early appropriate management of more severe diagnoses.
authors.affiliation: Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.
authors.forename: Talib
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Shah
authors.affiliation: Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.
authors.forename: David J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Cloke
authors.affiliation: Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.
authors.forename: Steven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rushton
authors.affiliation: Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. ; The English Football Association at Wembley Stadium, North London, UK.
authors.forename: Mark D F
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Shirley
authors.affiliation: Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. ; Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. ; Freeman Hospital, High Heaton, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.
authors.forename: David J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Deehan
keywords: LBP; adolescence; lower back pain; outcomes; recovery; risk factors; soccer; spondylolysis; youth