Preseason elimination impact on anterior cruciate ligament injury in the national football league

BACKGROUND Anterior cruciate ligament(ACL)injuries represent detrimental injuries in the National Football League(NFL).A significant portion of these injuries often occur in preseason exhibitions.The Coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic presented a unique disruption to preseason NFL football with the cancelation of all preseason games.AIM To compare the incidence of ACL tears through the first eight weeks of the NFL season in 2020 to the mean incidence over the previous 5 seasons(2015-2019)and determine if there was any change in incidence with the elimination of the preseason.METHODS NFL players who suffered ACL tears during the preseason and first eight weeks of the NFL season from 2015-2020 were identified.The number of ACL injuries for the 2015-2019 seasons was compared to the 2020 season for four different timeframes.For each analysis,the cumulative number of ACL injuries to that time point was used to calculate the percent difference for descriptive analysis.Additionally,the number of teams with at least one player suffering an ACL tear were identified and compared using Chi-Squared testing.Finally,a cumulative relative risk was calculated for each week played.RESULTS There were 14 ACL tears through the first four games of the 2020 season,a 118.8%(14 vs 6.4)increase in comparison to the 5-year average over the first 4 regular season weeks of 2015-2019.However,when accounting for injuries occurring during the preseason from 2015-2019,there were 18.6%(14 vs 17.2)fewer total ACL injuries through regular season week 4 with no significant difference in percentage of teams impacted when these preseason injuries were accounted for P=0.394.Results were similar(19 vs 17.2)over 8 total games played(whether regular season or preseason),and over 8 regular season games(P=0.196,P=0.600).CONCLUSION The elimination of the NFL preseason resulted in a higher rate of injuries during the first 4 games of the regular season.However,these increases are offset by the injuries typically sustained during the preseason.This suggests there may be front-loading of injuries over the course of an NFL season,such that players may be more prone to injury when the intensity of play suddenly increases,whether in the preseason or regular season.

Carving out a Niche African football players feature prominently in the Chinese leagues

The Chinese Football Association Super League （CSL） has broken yet another record. Indeed, the league＇s record recruitment budget of 388 million euros （$342.76 million） yeas broken this season. In 2018, more than 470 million euros （$415.19 million） have been spent on retaining the best football stars that have come to China in recent years, as well as on attracting even more talented footballers.

The Association Between Subjective Wellness Symptoms and Blood Biomarker Data in English Premier League Footballers

The present study investigates the association between subjective wellness symptoms,and categorical point-of-care(POC)blood biomarkers of the free oxygen radical test(FORT),and systemic inflammation through high sensitivity C-reactive protein(Hs-CRP),in English Premier League footballers.Data from 38 male professional elite athletes(Mean Age=25.8,SD=4.4)from the English Premier League were included in the study,with a total of 674 individual testing records collected over an entire Premier League season.A player wellness questionnaire,along with fasted and rested point-of-care blood biomarker testing were collected weekly across the season.The wellness questionnaire collected subjective symptoms of illness and fatigue,while FORT and Hs-CRP were assessed through point-of-care analysis to highlight periods of excessive hydroperoxide production and systemic inflammation.Using a chi square goodness of fit model,results showed that there was a significant association between the frequency of symptoms logged and categorical POC blood biomarker data of FORT and HsCRP(P<0.01).Of the records demonstrating normal levels of Hs-CRP and FORT concentrations,27%logged symptoms with an average of 1.5 symptoms reported per answered record.Comparatively,excessive biomarker values demonstrated 55%of records having symptoms logged,averaging 2.4 symptoms reported per record.