Clinical Review

Knee Injuries in Elite Level Soccer Players

Publish date: October 4, 2018

TAKE-HOME POINTS

Soccer is one of the most popular sports in the world and has a high incidence of resultant knee injuries.
Significant, identifiable risk factors put soccer players at risk for serious knee injuries, such as ACL ruptures; age, female sex, and position played influence injury susceptibility.
ACL injury most commonly occurs via non-contact mechanisms, and female players are at a significantly higher risk of ACL injury than male counterparts.
The prevalence of osteoarthritis in retired soccer players is high, underscoring the need to be familiar with meniscal and cartilage repair/restoration techniques and associated outcomes.
The FIFA11+ program reduces injury by 30%, with reported relative risk of 0.70 for lower limb injuries, highlighting the significant preventative importance of this warm-up program.

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