TY - JOUR T1 - Italian consensus statement (2020) on return to play after lower limb muscle injury in football (soccer) JF - BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine JO - BMJ OPEN SP EX MED DO - 10.1136/bmjsem-2018-000505 VL - 5 IS - 1 SP - e000505 AU - Gian Nicola Bisciotti AU - Piero Volpi AU - Giampietro Alberti AU - Alessandro Aprato AU - Matteo Artina AU - Alessio Auci AU - Corrado Bait AU - Andrea Belli AU - Giuseppe Bellistri AU - Pierfrancesco Bettinsoli AU - Alessandro Bisciotti AU - Andrea Bisciotti AU - Stefano Bona AU - Marco Bresciani AU - Andrea Bruzzone AU - Roberto Buda AU - Michele Buffoli AU - Matteo Callini AU - Gianluigi Canata AU - Davide Cardinali AU - Gabriella Cassaghi AU - Lara Castagnetti AU - Sebastiano Clerici AU - Barbara Corradini AU - Alessandro Corsini AU - Cristina D'Agostino AU - Enrico Dellasette AU - Francesco Di Pietto AU - Drapchind Enrica AU - Cristiano Eirale AU - Andrea Foglia AU - Francesco Franceschi AU - Antonio Frizziero AU - Alberto Galbiati AU - Carlo Giammatei AU - Philippe Landreau AU - Claudio Mazzola AU - Biagio Moretti AU - Marcello Muratore AU - Gianni Nanni AU - Roberto Niccolai AU - Claudio Orizio AU - Andrea Pantalone AU - Federica Parra AU - Giulio Pasta AU - Paolo Patroni AU - Davide Pelella AU - Luca Pulici AU - Alessandro Quaglia AU - Stefano Respizzi AU - Luca Ricciotti AU - Arianna Rispoli AU - Francesco Rosa AU - Alberto Rossato AU - Italo Sannicandro AU - Claudio Sprenger AU - Chiara Tarantola AU - Fabio Gianpaolo Tenconi AU - Giuseppe Tognini AU - Fabio Tosi AU - Giovanni Felice Trinchese AU - Paola Vago AU - Marcello Zappia AU - Zarko Vuckovich AU - Raul Zini AU - Michele Trainini AU - Karim Chamari Y1 - 2019/10/01 UR - http://bmjopensem.bmj.com/content/5/1/e000505.abstract N2 - Return to play (RTP) decisions in football are currently based on expert opinion. No consensus guideline has been published to demonstrate an evidence-based decision-making process in football (soccer). Our aim was to provide a framework for evidence-based decision-making in RTP following lower limb muscle injuries sustained in football. A 1-day consensus meeting was held in Milan, on 31 August 2018, involving 66 national and international experts from various academic backgrounds. A narrative review of the current evidence for RTP decision-making in football was provided to delegates. Assembled experts came to a consensus on the best practice for managing RTP following lower limb muscle injuries via the Delphi process. Consensus was reached on (1) the definitions of ‘return to training’ and ‘return to play’ in football. We agreed on ‘return to training’ and RTP in football, the appropriate use of clinical and imaging assessments, and laboratory and field tests for return to training following lower limb muscle injury, and identified objective criteria for RTP based on global positioning system technology. Level of evidence IV, grade of recommendation D. ER -