The duration of injury absence for professional women footballers can be estimated, allowing club medical staff to make better predictions on when players can return to training or matches.

That is the key message in according to a study published last week (17 October) in the open access journal BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine.

Researchers from Sweden analysed 2,390 injuries reported among women playing in 72 team-seasons of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for the Women’s Elite Club Injury Study.

The article’s first author is Jan Ekstrand, who is based at the Department of Health, Medicine and Caring Sciences, Linköping University in Sweden. Two of his fellow authors – Håkan Bengtsson, Anna Hallén – are based at the university’s physiotherapy unit.

‘This study will aid clinicians with valuable information about expected absences for the most common injury diagnoses in women’s professional football’ [Jan Ekstrand et al]

Dr Ekstrand and his four co-authors found that most of the time lost due to injuries was caused by moderate and severe injuries, including ankle sprains, strain of the hamstring, quadriceps, or calf muscle, and knee ligament tears, and 66 per cent per cent of the injuries were included among the 30 most common injury diagnoses.

Analysis showed that most of the injuries included among the 30 most common were mild, such as bruises (contusions) and mild muscle pulls or sprains, leading to an absence of seven days or fewer in 397 cases (23 per cent) or moderate, such as ankle sprains and muscle strains or partial tears, leading to an absence of seven-28 days in 1,177 cases (69 per cent).

For severe injuries, such as ruptures to knee cartilage and ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) injury, these led to an absence of longer than 28 days in 140 cases (8 per cent). Although these injuries were less common and included only four diagnoses – all related to knee injuries – they caused 35 per cent of all absences during the study period.

How to excel

Dr Ekstrand and his fellow researchers said: ‘This study will aid clinicians with valuable information about expected absences for the most common injury diagnoses in women’s professional football. It will therefore be important for clinicians in the field to excel in the management of these injuries to be able to provide the best medical service possible.’

To access a full version of the article – titled Return to play time for the 30 most common injuries in the UEFA Women’s Elite Club Injury Study Doi: 10.1136/bmjsem-2025-002724 – click

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