ABSTRACT
Common lower extremity injuries in female high school soccer players in Johannesburg
east district
Mtshali P.T.S.
Background and purpose of research
As the number of females participating in sports has increased, so has the necessity of
understanding the effect of female growth and development in participation, athletic ability and
injury patterns. Soccer is one of the sports where South Africa has seen an increase of youth and
adult femalesâ participation.
Aim: To establish the prevalence of and extrinsic risk factors contributing to injuries in the lower
extremity in female high school soccer players in the Johannesburg east district.
Method: A retrospective descriptive questionnaire â based study of 103 first team high school
female soccer players in the Johannesburg east district was conducted. This was to determine
point and one year prevalence of injuries, profile of injuries that affect female soccer players,
associations between injuries and player position, age, use of equipment, frequency of play, and
training duration and also to identify possible risk factors that contribute to injuries.
Results: The one year prevalence of injured players was 46.1% and point prevalence was 37.8%.
Knee injuries (18.6%) and ankle injuries (17.6%) were reported for one year prevalence and for
point prevalence knee injuries were 13.3% and ankle injuries 18.9%. An extended duration of
skills (p=0.0001) and fitness (p=0.02) training in this population reduced the likelihood of
incurring an injury and the older (p=0.01) the players, the more chances of sustaining injuries.
The players who wore shin guards were less prone to shin/leg injuries (p=0.01) and the relative
odds were 0.35 (CI 0.16-0.79). The midfielders had more foot and toe injuries (p = 0.05). Starting
age (p=0.78), frequency of play (p=0.83) wearing of shoes (p=0.54) and stretching had no
influence on injury.
Conclusion: The knee and ankle were the main locations of injury with defenders and midfielders
mostly being injured. The increased duration of training for both skills and fitness and not
wearing shin guards are risk factors for injury in female soccer players in high school.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/4710 |
| Date | 25 March 2008 |
| Creators | Mtshali, Primrose Theodorah Siphesihle |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 15479 bytes, 1613306 bytes, application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf |
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