TY  - GEN
A1  - Mugele, Hendrik
A1  - Plummer, Ashley
A1  - Steffen, Kathrin
A1  - Stoll, Josefine
A1  - Mayer, Frank
A1  - Müller, Juliane
T1  - General versus sports-specific injury prevention programs in athletes
T2  - Postprints der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe
N2  - Introduction

Annually, 2 million sports-related injuries are reported in Germany of which athletes contribute to a large proportion. Multiple sport injury prevention programs designed to decrease acute and overuse injuries in athletes have been proven effective. Yet, the programs’ components, general or sports-specific, that led to these positive effects are uncertain. Despite not knowing about the superiority of sports-specific injury prevention programs, coaches and athletes alike prefer more specialized rather than generalized exercise programs. Therefore, this systematic review aimed to present the available evidence on how general and sports-specific prevention programs affect injury rates in athletes.

Methods

PubMed and Web of Science were electronically searched throughout April 2018. The inclusion criteria were publication dates Jan 2006–Dec 2017, athletes (11–45 years), exercise-based injury prevention programs and injury incidence. The methodological quality was assessed with the Cochrane Collaboration assessment tools.

Results

Of the initial 6619 findings, 15 studies met the inclusion criteria. In addition, 13 studies were added from reference lists and external sources making a total of 28 studies. Of which, one used sports-specific, seven general and 20 mixed prevention strategies. Twenty-four studies revealed reduced injury rates. Of the four ineffective programs, one was general and three mixed.

Conclusion

The general and mixed programs positively affect injury rates. Sports-specific programs are uninvestigated and despite wide discussion regarding the definition, no consensus was reached. Defining such terminology and investigating the true effectiveness of such IPPs is a potential avenue for future research.
T3  - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe - 481 
KW  - randomized-controlled-trial
KW  - cruciate ligament injury
KW  - amateur soccer players
KW  - hamstring injuries
KW  - training-program
KW  - exercise program
KW  - adolescent sport
KW  - youth football
KW  - team handball
KW  - risk-factors
Y1  - 2018
UR  - https://publishup.uni-potsdam.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/41993
UR  - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-419935
IS  - 481
ER  -