PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Ekstrand, Jan AU - Ueblacker, Peter AU - Van Zoest, Wart AU - Verheijen, Raymond AU - Vanhecke, Bruno AU - van Wijk, Maikel AU - Bengtsson, Håkan TI - Risk factors for hamstring muscle injury in male elite football: medical expert experience and conclusions from 15 European Champions League clubs AID - 10.1136/bmjsem-2022-001461 DP - 2023 Jan 01 TA - BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine PG - e001461 VI - 9 IP - 1 4099 - http://bmjopensem.bmj.com/content/9/1/e001461.short 4100 - http://bmjopensem.bmj.com/content/9/1/e001461.full SO - BMJ OPEN SP EX MED2023 Jan 01; 9 AB - Objectives To describe the perceived importance of suggested hamstring injury risk factors according to chief medical officers (CMOs) of European male professional football clubs. A secondary objective was to compare if these perceptions differed between teams with a lower-than-average hamstring injury burden and teams with a higher than average hamstring injury burden.Methods First, CMOs of 15 European professional male football clubs were asked to suggest risk factors for hamstring injury in their club. The perceived importance of the suggested risk factors was then rated by all participants on a 5-graded Likert scale. Participating teams were divided in two groups depending on their hamstring injury burden during the 2019/2020 and 2020/2021 seasons. The LOW group consisted of seven teams that had a lower than average hamstring injury burden. The HIGH group consisted of eight teams that had a higher-than-average hamstring injury burden.Results Twenty-one risk factors were suggested. The majority were extrinsic in nature, associated with coaching staff, team or club rather than players themselves. ‘Lack of communication between medical staff and coaching staff’ had the highest average importance (weighted average=3.7) followed by ‘Lack of regular exposure to high-speed football during training sessions’ (weighted average=3.6). The HIGH group perceived the player factors fatigue and wellness as more important than the LOW group.Conclusion According to CMOs recruited in this study, most risk factors for hamstring injuries are extrinsic and associated with the club and coaching staff, and not the players themselves.No data are available. The dataset from this study is held securely in coded form and data are not available to the public.