Download This PaperInjury Prevalence, Types and Mechanisms in Football: A Media-based Approach
8 Pages Posted: 7 May 2020
Date Written: April 13, 2020
Abstract
The increase in demand for football players to perform at their best during training and competition results in the escalation of a varying number of football-related injuries. Media reports provide readily as well as timely information on injury-related issues that could assist the stakeholders in decision making before and after a competition. Although, many attempts have been made to quantify football-related injuries in many countries via media, however, little is known on its prevalence, types, and mechanisms as reported in Nigerian media. The present study employed a content analysis technique through which 94 football-related news articles from Nigerian newspapers were examined and the most frequently reported injuries are identified. It is demonstrated from the chi-square analysis that the occurrences of football-related injuries are distributed amongst players regardless of their positional role in the game [χ2(60) = 41.401;
p>0.05]. Moreover, the prevalence in the mechanisms of injuries are disseminated across injury types [χ2(30) = 32.203; p>0.05]. A total of 94 different injuries are reported with knee, ankle, and thigh as the most affected locations. The findings further revealed that strikers have a higher rate of injury occurrences with a total of 52% as compared to midfielders 20%, defenders 14%, and goalkeepers 12% whilst 2% are unidentified. Many of the injuries reported are either fresh 48% or recurrent 50% with only 2% recovery. The present findings could be useful to stakeholders in projecting injury-related problems in football which could guide appropriate action.
Keywords: Football, Injury Mechanism, Injury Prevalence, Nigerian Media, Sports News
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