Study of A Year in Football Injuries and Trauma and evaluation of a Handheld Uniform Recording Tool (STAYFIT-HURT)

Kaye, Thomas F. (2024) Study of A Year in Football Injuries and Trauma and evaluation of a Handheld Uniform Recording Tool (STAYFIT-HURT). MD thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

Introduction
This project aimed to create a platform to research injury patterns during the Scottish Professional Football League Season of 2019/20, to investigate these patterns, and to demonstrate how this data could be captured by evaluating the feasibility of using a mobile uniform medical records tool.

Methods
The study was a prospective observational study which involved the recruitment of clinicians working in professional football clubs to record player injury data using the novel ScribePro® app on their mobile device. Anonymised data was then extracted from the app for analysis in line with General Data Protection Regulations (2018). An evaluation process was undertaken retrospectively with key participants generating personal incident narratives to evaluate key issues around effectiveness of the tool and the feasibility of a uniform medical records system.

Results
Volume of data collected was lower than predicted due to the global COVID-19 pandemic curtailing the researched season, limited club engagement and high levels of participant drop out. 122 significant injury episodes from 4 SPFL clubs were captured. Results of limited statistical significance include: no demonstrated difference between professional and semi-professional players, 1.44 injuries per player versus 1.43 (p-0.9446, CI -0.2953, 0.2753); higher injury rates in players aged 26-29; forward position players with fewer injuries, average 1.0 injury per player versus study mean of 1.428 for all playing positions; no increase in injury rate on artificial grass versus natural grass during matches, 0.500 injuries per match on artificial and 0.549 on natural grass (p-0.547, CI - 0.122763, 0221664); and thigh and ankle injuries being the most common anatomy affected.

Discussion
The STAYFIT-HURT project demonstrated that reliable injury data can be collected using a mobile medical records app and important questions have been identified regarding the patterns of injuries, with the potential to inform player safety. Power calculations have been employed to indicate the quantity of data required to sufficiently power future similar research. The comprehensive introduction of such a system across Scottish Professional football faces significant logistical and cultural challenges but could make a major impact on clinical care, player welfare, help inform optimal utilisation of clubs’ major resources (ie players) and provide a valuable research platform.

• Item Type: Thesis (MD)
• Qualification Level: Doctoral
• Subjects: R Medicine > RC Internal medicine > RC1200 Sports Medicine
• Colleges/Schools: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences
• Supervisor's Name: Miller, Dr. William, Stewart, Miss Katy and MacLean, Dr. John
• Date of Award: 2024
• Depositing User: Theses Team
• Unique ID: glathesis:2024-84388
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 25 Jun 2024 08:13
• Last Modified: 25 Jun 2024 08:16
• Thesis DOI: 10.5525/gla.thesis.84388
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/84388