Injuries in community-level Australian football : Results from a club-based injury surveillance system
- Authors: Ekegren, Christina , Gabbe, Belinda , Donaldson, Alex , Cook, Jill , Lloyd, David , Finch, Caroline
- Date: 2014
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport Vol. 18, no. 6 (2014), p.651-655
- Relation: http://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/565900
- Relation: http://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/1058737
- Relation: http://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/565907
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Objectives: Far fewer injury surveillance systems exist within community sport than elite sport. As a result, most epidemiological data on sports injuries have limited relevance to community-level sporting populations. There is potential for data from community club-based injury surveillance systems to provide a better understanding of community sports injuries. This study aimed to describe the incidence and profile of community-level Australian football injuries reported using a club-based injury surveillance system. Design: Prospective, epidemiological study. Methods: Sports trainers from five community-level Australian football leagues recorded injury data during two football seasons using the club-based system. An online surveillance tool developed by Sports Medicine Australia ('Sports Injury Tracker') was used for data collection. The injury incidence, profile and match injury rate were reported. Results: Injury data for 1205 players were recorded in season one and for 823 players in season two. There was significant variability in injury incidence across clubs. However, aggregated data were consistent across football seasons, with an average of 0.7 injuries per player per season and 38-39 match injuries per 1000. h match exposure. A large proportion of injuries occurred during matches, involved the lower limb and resulted from contact. Conclusions: Data from the club-based system provided a profile of injuries consistent with previous studies in community-level Australian football. Moreover, injury incidence was consistent with other studies using similar personnel to record data. However, injury incidence was lower than that reported in studies using player self-report or healthcare professionals and may be an underestimate of true values.
Coding OSICS sports injury diagnoses in epidemiological studies : Does the background of the coder matter?
- Authors: Finch, Caroline , Orchard, John , Twomey, Dara , Saleem, Muhammad Saad , Ekegren, Christina , Lloyd, David , Elliott, Bruce
- Date: 2012
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: British Journal of Sports Medicine, Vol.48, p.552-556.
- Relation: http://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/565900
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: Objective: To compare Orchard Sports Injury Classification System (OSICS-10) sports medicine diagnoses assigned by a clinical and non-clinical coder. Design: Assessment of intercoder agreement. Setting: Community Australian football. Participants: 1082 standardised injury surveillance records. Main outcome measurements: Direct comparison of the four-character hierarchical OSICS-10 codes assigned by two independent coders (a sports physician and an epidemiologist). Adjudication by a third coder (biomechanist). Results: The coders agreed on the first character 95% of the time and on the first two characters 86% of the time. They assigned the same four-digit OSICS-10 code for only 46% of the 1082 injuries. The majority of disagreements occurred for the third character; 85% were because one coder assigned a non-specific 'X' code. The sports physician code was deemed correct in 53% of cases and the epidemiologist in 44%. Reasons for disagreement included the physician not using all of the collected information and the epidemiologist lacking specific anatomical knowledge. Conclusions: Sports injury research requires accurate identification and classification of specific injuries and this study found an overall high level of agreement in coding according to OSICS-10. The fact that the majority of the disagreements occurred for the third OSICS character highlights the fact that increasing complexity and diagnostic specificity in injury coding can result in a loss of reliability and demands a high level of anatomical knowledge. Injury report form details need to reflect this level of complexity and data management teams need to include a broad range of expertise. Copyright Article author (or their employer) 2012.
Lessons learnt from implementing FootyFirst in 2012
- Authors: Donaldson, Alex , Gabbe, Belinda , Lloyd, David , Young, Warren , Ekegren, Christina , Finch, Caroline
- Date: 2012
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Sport Health Vol. 30, no. 3 (2012), p. 40-41
- Relation: http://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/565900
- Relation: http://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/565907
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: After we developed FootyFirst and produced a draft program manual, we actively sought input from community football coaches, players, administrators and sports trainers. Two focus groups were conducted to seek feedback on how the program was presented (general impressions, text, images, etc), potential barriers to the program being widely used in community football, and strategies to reduce/overcome these. Feedback indicated that the type and level of the exercises within FootyFirst had been pitched at the right level and that the program was easy to follow and understand. The main concern was it would take too much time for community football players to complete the FootyFirst program, particularly given that most community football teams train only twice a week for about 90 minutes. Focus group participants suggested that the maximum time available in a typical training session for this type of program would be about 20 minutes. A range of questions and concerns were also raised including; Will the program work? Why should it be done? Are players likely to become fatigued and more prone to injury in their regular football training after completing FootyFirst? The focus group participants also indicated that endorsement of FootyFirst by a highly respected individual or organisation from within the elite AFL community would be a powerful influence on community coaches and players.