Abstract
Background: Soccer is one of the most popular sports in the world. Previous studies have shown that soccer has a higher lower limb injury rate than other sports, such as cricket, field hockey, volleyball, rugby, and others. Studies have associated intrinsic factors, such as increased age, career duration, previous injuries, and foot structure, with common sports injuries; and extrinsic factors, such as footwear, increase the risk of injury. Injuries are a significant adverse event in a soccer player's career. Previous studies reported that most soccer injuries occur in the lower extremities. However, data on injuries among professional soccer players in South Africa are scarce. The study investigated the incidence of foot and lower limb sports injuries and their management among professional soccer players. The researcher has chosen quantitative methods for this descriptive survey design study.
Methods: The study used a self-constructed questionnaire to collect data.
Results: The study's findings highlighted incidences of foot and lower limb injuries among soccer players and their current management. Furthermore, the study's findings helped highlight the need and role of podiatrists within the multidisciplinary team members to treat soccer players. A total of 150 professional soccer players participated in the study. The incidences of injuries were high during a game (at 61.1%). Most injuries were caused by contact with another player, and sprain/strain was the most sustained injury (at 26.2%). The results indicated that the ankle (at n=72) (i.e., 48%), knee (at n=65) (43%), foot (at n=58) (i.e., 38.7%), hip (at n=33) (i.e., 22%) were the most common sites of injury, and 75.3% of the players could not get access to podiatry services because of ‘absent service’, ‘not informed’ and ‘ignorance’...