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Interventions to Prevent Sports Related Injuries: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomised Controlled Trials

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Abstract

Background

The effects of methods to prevent injuries have been studied in several systematic reviews. However, no meta-analysis taking into account all randomised controlled intervention trials aiming at the prevention of sports injuries has been published.

Objective

To summarise the effects of sports injury prevention interventions.

Design

Systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials.

Data Sources

PubMed, MEDLINE, SPORTDiscus, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, CINAHL, PEDro, and Web of Science, searched in September 2013. The reference lists of retrieved articles and reviews were hand searched.

Eligibility Criteria for Selecting Studies

To be selected articles had to examine the effects of any preventive intervention on sports injuries, be randomised/quasi-randomised and controlled trials, published in a peer-reviewed journal. The outcome of the trial had to be injury rate or the number of injured individuals.

Results

Of the 5580 articles retrieved after a search of databases and the relevant bibliography, 68 randomised controlled trials were included in the systematic review and 60 trials were included in the meta-analysis. Insoles (OR 0.51, 95 % CI 0.32–0.81), external joint supports (OR 0.40, 95 % CI 0.30–0.53), and specific training programmes (OR 0.55, 95 % CI 0.46–0.66) appeared to be effective in reducing the risk of sports injuries. Stretching (OR 0.92, 95 % CI 0.80–1.06), modified shoes (OR 1.23, 95 % CI 0.81–1.87), and preventive videos (OR 0.86, 95 % CI 0.44–1.68) seemed not to be effective.

Conclusions

This meta-analysis showed that certain interventions can reduce the risk of sports injuries. There were limitations regarding the quality of the trials, generalisability of the results, and heterogeneity of the study designs. In future, the mechanisms behind effective methods and the most beneficial elements of preventive training programmes need to be clarified.

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Contributors

ML, SA, JP, AH, and UMK conceived and designed the study. ML and SA conducted the literature searches, data extraction and quality assessment of the included trials. ML performed the meta-analysis, analysed the data, and drafted the manuscript. SA, JP, AH, and UMK critically revised the manuscript for important intellectual content. All authors approved the final version of the manuscript. UMK is the guarantor.

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All authors have completed the Conflict of Interest statement and declare: no support from any organisation for the submitted work; no financial relationships with any organisations that might have an interest in the submitted work in the previous three years; no other relationships or activities that could appear to have influenced the submitted work.

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Correspondence to Mari Leppänen.

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Leppänen, M., Aaltonen, S., Parkkari, J. et al. Interventions to Prevent Sports Related Injuries: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomised Controlled Trials. Sports Med 44, 473–486 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-013-0136-8

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