PREVALENCE AND ASSOCIATE FACTORS OF SOCCER INJURIES: IN THE CASE OF NEFASMEWCHA U-17 PROJECT PLAYERS IN LAY GAYINT WOREDA AMHARA REGIONAL STATE, ETHIOPIA

Abstract

Sports injury occurs during a sporting activity caused by overuse, direct impact, or the application of force that is greater than the body part can structurally withstand. Soccer is usually defined as a body contact outdoor game and therefore there is a chance of being injured by the opponents or due to not following proper playing rule or not using protective equipment. The purpose of this study is to investigate the prevalence and associated factors of football injuries among Nefasmewcha U-17 project players of Amhara Regional State, Ethiopia.The study involved 50 players Nefasmewcha U-17 project players. The major instruments in this study were questionnaire. The questionnaires were administered for the players. The questionnaire contained 39 items for players the first part includes questions regarding demographics of the player participant such as age, educational status, the second part of the questionnaire required information related to the injuries sustained such as the site of injury and mechanism of injury. This quantitative information was required for retrospective purposes. The third part of the questionnaire contained Length of time the player was unable to attend/participate in training or matches, due to their injury, the sample size of the study was selected by using purposive sampling method. Besides, this adequate amount of data was collected by using multiple data collection tools. Predominately questionnaires were used as a major data collection instrument. However, in order to assure the validity of the data that obtained from questionnaires, and field observation was analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively. Generally, the finding of the current research showed that the prevalence rate of injury is high in male youth trainees. The lower extremities to be most commonly injured part of the body, especially foot\knee joint had the highest percentage of injuries compared to other types of injury. Uncomfortable playground , lack of training, lack of equipment were some of the cause of injury incidence and majority of the youth projects did not get adequate amount of competition program,. Therefore, from the result obtained it is possible to conclude that sport injury has a negative impact for soccer development