The effect of field condition and shoe type on lower extremity injuries in American Football.

BACKGROUND/AIM: Considerable improvement has been made in football field surfaces and types of shoe, yet relatively few epidemiological studies have investigated their roles in the risk of football injuries. This study examined the effects of field surface, surface condition and shoe type on the likelihood of lower extremity football injuries. METHODS: Deidentified data from 188 players from one division I university football team during the 2007-2010 seasons were analysed. Lower extremity injury rate and rate ratio, along with 95% confidence limits, were calculated by football activity, playing surface condition and shoe type. RESULTS: A total of 130 lower extremity injuries were sustained, with an overall lower extremity injury rate of 33.5/10 000 athlete-sessions. The lower extremity injury rate was 2.61 times higher when the surface condition was abnormal compared with when the surface condition was normal. During games, the risk for lower extremity injury was 3.34 times higher (95% CI 1.70 to 6.56) on artificial turf compared with natural grass. However, this trend was not statistically significant in practice sessions. Furthermore, neither the number of shoe cleats nor the height of the shoe top was statistically associated with risk of lower extremity injuries. CONCLUSIONS: Football players who played on artificial turf or when the surface condition was abnormal were susceptible to lower extremity injuries. Evidence from this study suggests that further research into playing surfaces and shoe types may provide fruitful opportunities to reduce injuries to collegiate football players.

Social support patterns of collegiate athletes before and after injury.

CONTEXT: Social support has been identified as an important factor in facilitating recovery from injury. However, no previous authors have prospectively assessed the change in social support patterns before and after injury. OBJECTIVE: To examine the preinjury and postinjury social support patterns among male and female collegiate athletes. DESIGN: Prospective observational study. SETTING: A Big Ten Conference university. PATIENTS OR OTHER PARTICIPANTS: A total of 256 National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I male and female collegiate athletes aged 18 or older from 13 sports teams. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Injury incidence was identified using the Sports Injury Monitoring System. Social support was measured using the 6-item Social Support Questionnaire. Data on preinjury and postinjury social support patterns were compared. RESULTS: Male athletes reported more sources of social support than female athletes, whereas female athletes had greater satisfaction with the support they received. Athletes' social support patterns changed after they became injured. Injured athletes reported relying more on coaches (P = .003), athletic trainers (P < .0001), and physicians (P = .003) for social support after they became injured. Athletes also reported greater postinjury satisfaction with social support received from friends (P = .019), coaches (P = .001), athletic trainers (P < .0001), and physicians (P = .003). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings identify an urgent need to better define the psychosocial needs of injured athletes and also strongly suggest that athletic trainers have a critical role in meeting these needs.

Prevalence of and risk factors associated with symptoms of depression in competitive collegiate student athletes.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the prevalence of symptoms of depression among competitive collegiate student athletes and examine the factors associated with symptoms of depression among this population. DESIGN: A baseline survey of a prospective cohort study. SETTING: The survey was administered at the preseason team meetings. PARTICIPANTS: The sample included 257 collegiate student athletes (167 males and 90 females) who participated in Division I National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)-sponsored sports during the 2005-2006 academic year. MAIN OUTCOME MEASUREMENTS: Symptoms of depression were measured by the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CESD). Anxiety was measured by the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI). The Generalized Estimating Equations (GEE) was used to assess the factors associated with symptoms of depression. RESULTS: Twenty-one percent of participants reported experiencing symptoms of depression. Athletes who were female, freshmen, or with self-reported pain were associated with significantly increased odds of experiencing symptoms of depression after adjusting for sports and other covariates. In particular, female athletes had 1.32 greater odds (95% CI, 1.01 to 1.73) of experiencing symptoms of depression compared to male student athletes. Freshmen had 3.27 greater odds (95% CI, 1.63 to 6.59) of experiencing symptoms of depression than their more senior counterparts. Student athletes who reported symptoms of depression were associated with higher scores of State-Anxiety and Trait-Anxiety, respectively (P<0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings provide empirical data for the future study on mental health among collegiate athletes. Further studies on why female and freshmen athletes are at increased risk of experiencing symptoms of depression are also warranted.