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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Int J Sports Med 2022; 43(03): 262-268
DOI: 10.1055/a-1577-3451
Training & Testing

The Interval Between Matches Significantly Influences Injury Risk in Field Hockey

Joel Mason
1   Institute for Sports Science, University of Jena Jena, Germany
,
Anna Lina Rahlf
1   Institute for Sports Science, University of Jena Jena, Germany
2   Department of Statistics, TU Dortmund University, Dortmund, Germany
,
Andreas Groll
2   Department of Statistics, TU Dortmund University, Dortmund, Germany
,
Kai Wellmann
1   Institute for Sports Science, University of Jena Jena, Germany
,
Astrid Junge
3   MSH Medical School Hamburg, Prevention and Sport, Hamburg, Germany
4   Schulthess Klinik, Swiss Concussion Center, Zurich, Switzerland
,
Astrid Zech
1   Institute for Sports Science, University of Jena Jena, Germany
› Author Affiliations Funding This study was funded by the German Federal Institute for Sport Science (grant number 2515BI0111).
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Abstract

Fixture congestion increases injury risk in football, but how it impacts other sports is unclear. The aim of this study was to identify associations between match density and injury incidence in field hockey players. Injury data from a prospective cohort study of professional and youth players was analysed in two ways. Inter-match intervals were clustered into<2424-hours, 3–7-days, and 13 + days, and injury rate ratios (IRR) were calculated to identify differences between clusters in match injuries. Separately, a Lasso-penalised Poisson regression model was used to determine the association between match load across the previous 24-hours, 3-days, 7-days and 14-days, and match and training injuries. Injury rates in matches within 24-hours of the previous match were mostly significantly higher when compared to matches after 3–7-days (IRRs: 3.78; 6.77, P = 0.003; 0.005). While a higher match exposure in the preceding 24-hour and 3-day periods was associated with higher combined match and training injury rates (β̂ = 0.0001; 0.0018), a higher match exposure in the previous 7-and 14-day periods was associated with a reduced injury rate (β̂ = –0.0001; –0.0005). Due to the increased injury risk in matches 3-days and especially 24-hours following the previous fixture, match distribution should be cautiously planned.

Key words

match density - fixture congestion - injury - team sport - schedule


Publication History

Received: 11 February 2021

Accepted: 01 July 2021

Article published online:
17 September 2021

© 2021. The Author(s). This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial-License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

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