Epidemiology and Prevention Programs on Football Injuries in Children and Adolescent Players: Systematic Review

More than half of football players are under 18. The risk of injury to these players is high, but there are few studies in the field of epidemiology and prevention of injuries. Thus, the purpose of this systematic review was to evaluate scientific studies on the prevalence, incidence, mechanism, and prevention of injuries to children and adolescents. Scientific data bases including MEDLINE, EMBASE, SCOPUS and MAGIRAN were searched using the keywords "football" or "soccer", "youth", "junior ", "adolescent ", "pediatric,", '' child '' '' 'injury ‘,' injury prevention'. 989 studies were identified, of which 62 studies satisfied the inclusion criteria to enter the review.
The results showed that the incidence of injury in training for children and adolescents varied from 1 to 5 injuries per 1000 hours of training. The incidence of injuries in the competition increases with age. On average, this was about 15 to 20 injuries per 1000 hours. 60 to 90 percent of injuries were acute. Most injuries affected the lower extremities. Strain and sprain were the most common types of injuries in children and adolescents.