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International PhD programmed - Science and Health in Football - Call for applications!
The international doctoral program Science and Health in Football is hosted by the Institute of Sports and Preventive Medicine at Saarland University, Saarbruecken (Germany). Close collaborations are established with the Centre Hospitalier de Luxembourg, the University of Technology in Sydney (Australia), Edith-Cowan University in Perth (Australia), the Oslo Sports Trauma Research Centre (Norway) and the University of Basle (Switzerland). The University of Technology Sydney and Saarland University further agreed on a shared PhD program offering the possibility for a double degree from both Universities. The progam aims at improving the scientific approach to football, in particular at evaluating its potential health benefits and at further developing training standards and performance diagnosis for elite football players.
Although head injuries (in particular concussions) and their management have become a major topic in sports medicine research over the last years, there is still a lack of published data with clinical relevance. This is particularly true for football (soccer) in comparison to collision sports with higher incidences of concussions like rugby or Australian Rules Football. In early 2023, the German Football League (Deutsche Fußball Liga; DFL) has published the so-called ‘DFL protocol’ to guide team physicians in the management of football-related head injuries. However, it has not yet been investigated how effective the current procedure is. In addition, DFL has co-funded the SoccHealth branch of the NAKO cohort study which has been conducted in 350 former professional players and may be supportive in assessing, if neurodegeneration occurs more frequent in former players than in matched controls. It will be the task of the PhD candidate to set-up a proper research agenda ("proposal") within the first 6 months which is then defended and finally carried out in collaboration with the supervisors and other involved parties. For further information on requirements check Requirements for applications.
New Football Quarterly of our phd-Students (klick)
Benedict Gondwe/Rilind Obertinca: 'Considering the reality, I am very lucky': how professional players and staff perceive injury prevention and performance protection in women's football
Ana Ukaj: Sudden cardiac death in national collegiate athletic association athletes: A 20-year study
Edgar Schwarz: Impact of temperature on physical and cognitive performance in elite female football players during intermittent exercise
Rina Meha: Effects of 6-week motor-cognitive agility training on football test performance in adult amateur players – a three-armed randomized controlled trial
Guangze Zhang: Video analysis of Achilles tendon ruptures in professional male football (soccer) reveals underlying injury patterns and provides strategies for injury prevention
Minho Lee: A context-aware loss function for action spotting in soccer videos
Mahnaz Davarnia: Optimizing pre-participation screening to prevent tragedy in young athletes: Moving from if to how
BJSM Blog Veröffentlichung
Riling Obertinca's project "Does a new injury prevention programme (FUNBALL) prevent injuries in youth male football (soccer) players?" has been published in the blog of the British Journal of Sport Medicine. (klick)
New Football Quarterly of our phd-Students (klick)
Benedict Gondwe: Can off-field “brains” provide a competitive advantage in professional football?
Rilind Obertinca: The 11+ injury prevention programme decreases rate of hamstring strain injuries in male collegiate soccer players
Ana Ukaj: Sudden Cardiac Arrest in Basketball and Soccer Stadiums, the Role of Automated External Defibrillators: A Review. For the BELTRAN Study (BaskEtbaLl and soccer sTadiums: Registry on Automatic exterNal defibrillators)
Monica Duarte Munoz: Pre-participation medical evaluation in competitive athletes: the experience of an international multisport club
Edgar Schwarz: Core body temperature responses during competitive sporting events: A narrative review.
Rina Meha: Deliberate soccer practice modulates attentional functioning in children
Guangze Zhang: Few training sessions between return to play and first match appearance are associated with an increased propensity for injury: a prospective cohort study of male professional football players during 16 consecutive seasons
New Football Quarterly of our phd-Students (klick)
Benedict Gondwe: A survey of organizational structure and operational practices of elite youth football academies and national federations from around the world: A performance and medical perspective.
Rilind Obertinca: Attitudes, beliefs and factors influencing football coaches’ adherence to the 11+ injury prevention programme.
Ana Ukaj: Sudden Cardiac Death Caused by a Fatal Association of Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (MYH7, p. Arg719Trp), Heterozygous Familial Hypercholesterolemia (LDLR, p.Gly343Lys) and SARS-CoV-2 B.1.1.7 Infection.
Mahnaz Davarnia: Value of screening for the risk of sudden cardiac death in young competitive athletes.
Edgar Schwarz: Thermoregulatory, Cardiovascular and Perceptual Responses of Spectators of a Simulated Football Match in Hot and Humid Environmental Conditions.
Rina Meha: Brain endurance training improves physical, cognitive, and multitasking performance in professional football players.
Guangze Zhang: Return to play following injuries in pro football: insights into the real-life practices of 85 elite practitioners around diagnostics, progression strategies and reintegration processes.
Call for applications (here)
Tim Meyer honored for lifetime achievement:
As part of the award for Saarland Athletes of the Year, Prof. Tim Meyer, Director of the Insitute of Preventive and Sports Medicine, was honored for his lifetime achievement by the Association of Saarland Sports Journalists. (click)
New Football Quarterly of our phd-Students (klick)
Rina Meha: An after-school football session transiently improves cognitive function in children
Benedict Gondwe: Communication quality between the medical team and the head coach/manager is associated with injury burden and player availability in elite football clubs
Rilind Obertinca: Extended Knee Control programme lowers weekly hamstring, knee and ankle injury prevalence compared with an adductor strength programme or self-selected injury prevention exercises in adolescent and adult amateur football players: a two-armed cluster-randomised trial with an additional comparison arm
Ana Ukaj: Cohort profile: the Swedish study of SUDden cardiac Death in the Young (SUDDY) 2000-2010: a complete nationwide cohort of SCDs
Edgar Schwarz: Cold water immersion of the hand and forearm during half-time improves intermittent exercise performance in the heat.
Guangze Zhang: Development of a standardised system to classify injury-inciting circumstances in football: the Football Injury Inciting Circumstances Classification System (FIICCS)
UEFA medical research grant 2023:
The UEFA medical research grant 2023 was awarded to our PhD Student Edgar Schwarz. The funded study will investigate if a cooling intervention can improve the health, safety and performance of footballers playing in the heat. Further details can be found here.
No relationship between Covid vaccination and sudden cardiac death in sport
A new rumor appears on social media claiming a relationship between the covid vaccination and sudden cardiac death in sport. Our medical director Prof. Tim Meyer and Dr. Florian Egger explain in the local news show "Aktuellen Bericht" (15.12.2021) why there is no scientific evidence for thus rumor. For many years Dr. Egger is thoroughly documenting cases of sudden cardiac death in sports and he says the data does not show any increase in cases since the Covid vaccination startet. You can find the report in German via sr.de (starting around 33 minutes). Details regarding the register can be found here.
The Accuracy of a Low-Cost GPS System during Football-Specific Movements
New paper from Emiel Schulze is published: A newly designed, low-cost GPS system was found accurate and reliable during football specific movements, making it a useful and affordable tool for sub-elite teams.
Results of the FIFA Sudden Death Registry in worldwide Football (FIFA-SDR) published.
In cooperation with FIFA, sudden deaths in worldwide soccer have been registered and their causes investigated in a prospective observational study at the Institute of Sports and Preventive Medicine at Saarland University since 2014. Dr. Florian Egger (specialist in internal medicine) and Prof. Tim Meyer (medical director) have now published the first results in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, 12/2020:
617 cases of professional and recreational soccer players from 67 countries were reported to the FIFA Registry of Deaths in Football (FIFA-SDR) between 2014 and 2018. Of these, 142 players (23 percent) survived after successful resuscitation. The registry included sudden cardiac deaths and cases with survived cardiac arrest, as well as injury-related deaths in soccer. The average age of the affected soccer players was 34 ± 16 years, and 96 percent were men. The main cause in players over 35 years of age was coronary artery disease (76 percent); in players under 35 years of age, it was autopsy-negative sudden unexplained death (22 percent).
Survival rate for resuscitation with and without defibrillator 85 percent of athletes who suffered sudden cardiac arrest and were treated immediately on scene with a lay defibrillator, an automated external defibrillator (AED), survived. In contrast, without treatment with an AED, the survival rate was only 35 percent. "This result shows how important it is to have a defibrillator on site at soccer fields and at all sports venues in general. It is at least as important to train the athletes, coaches and staff in resuscitation measures on a regular basis. In our study, soccer players were the most frequent first responders on site. They are the ones who save lives in the first place," says Dr. Florian Egger.
PhD Programme Science and Health in Football - Introduction external PhD candidates Rilind Obertinca and Rina Meha
Injury Prevention in Football (Rilind Obertinca, Sports Physiotherapist, MSc, Kosovo)
Although football is one of the most popular sports worldwide, it carries a risk of injury for players, both at professional and amateur level and in all age-groups. Studies show that the number of injuries tends to increase with age, with most injuries being located in the lower extremities, particularly at the ankle, knee and thigh.
Given the high importance of injury prevention, recently, the focus on developing injury prevention programs has increased significantly. Some of these programs are designed to prevent specific injuries, such as ACL or hamstring injuries, while others are designed to prevent overall injuries in football.
The aim of this doctoral project is to devlope a new injury prevention program and to analyze its effect on prevention of overall injuries in football payers.
Rilind Obertinca holds a Master of Science in Sports Phyiotherapy from Lithuanian Sports University, Lithuania and a Bachelor of Science in Physiotherapy from University of Prishtina, Kosovo.
Cognitive Performance in Football (Rina Meha, Clinical Psychologist, MSc, Kosovo)
Every football action includes a cognitive element. During the game players are exposed to a large number of stimuli, and it is continually required from them to make accurate decisions towards these stimuli. A high level of cognitive skill is required to enable players to attain their physical and technical potential. Skills such as game intelligence, spatial perception, anticipation, reaction time, attention shifting, and pattern recognition are relevant cognitive skills. These skills can be increased by ensuring training sessions to train not just the physical components but also challenges and neural pathways.
An improved cognitive performance has a positive effect on sport performance and may enable a reduction of recovery time after an injury. Therefore, the aim of this project is to investigate the effect of an injury prevention program on cognitive performance in young football players.
Rina Meha holds a Master of Science in Cognitive Neuropsychology from University of Sheffield, Greece and a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from the University of Prishtina, Kosovo.
"Impftrain" - Study shows that vaccination against influenza can be safely and effectively performed in elite athletes
The term "Impftrain" combines the German word "Impfung" (=vaccine) and training and has been chosen as name for a study that has been funded by the German Federal Institute of Sport Science and has been conducted in the years 2016 - 2018. Findings are now completely published:
Ledo A, Schub D, Ziller C, Enders M, Stenger T, Gärtner BC, Schmidt T, Meyer T, Sester M (shared senior authorship): Elite athletes on regular training show more pronounced induction of vaccine-specific T-cells and antibodies after tetravalent influenza vaccination than controls. Brain Behav Immun 83, 2020: 135-145.
Stenger T, Ledo A, Ziller C, Schub D, Schmidt T, Enders M, Gärtner BC, Sester M, Meyer T (shared senior authorship): Timing of vaccination after training: immune response and side effects in athletes. Med Sci Sports Exerc: in press (epub ahead of print).
The combined working group of the departments for sports and preventive medicine (Prof. Meyer), transplant and infection immunology (Prof. Sester) and microbiology and hygiene (Prof. Gärtner) was able to show that elite athletes do not have an impaired immune response to an influenza vaccine. This has been speculated by several practitioners and scientists and is based on some experimental observations of immune cell populations being decreased within the first hours after intense exercise. Also, the study indicates that side effects from vaccination are not frequent and severe enough to interfere with training. Finally, no relevant difference in immune response or side effects was documented between vaccination shortly after training vs. one day later which is of high relevance for the medical care of elite athletes who usually train on a daily basis.
The authors summarize that influenza vaccination seems to be a safe and effective method of infection prophylaxis in elite athletes, and no constraints need to be applied for timing of vac- cinations in relation to their training sessions. This is very much in line with the conclusions of a prior review which two of the authors have already published in 2014:
Gärtner B, Meyer T: Vaccination in elite athletes. Sports Med 44, 2014: 1361-1376
UEFA unveils heading guidelines for youth players
These heading guidelines are amongst other things based on the 'UEFA Heading Study', a multi-center study conducted in 8 European countries.
Beaudouin F, Gioftsidoiou A, Larsen MN, Lemmink K, Drust B, Modena R, Espinola JR, Meiu M, Vouillamoz M, Meyer T. The UEFA Heading Study: Heading incidence in children’s and youth’ football (soccer) in eight European countries. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science In Sports 2020.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/sms.13694
Key points:
The purpose of this UEFA Heading Study was to examine the characteristics of heading in children’s and youth’ football (soccer) in eight European countries. The current data present the first real-life assessment of the heading incidence during match play and training in a large-scale Europe-wide sample of young football players.
- The lowest number of headers per match was observed in Under-10 teams, followed by Under-16 female and Under-12 teams, whereas Under-16 male teams experienced the highest heading exposures.
- Taking exposure time into account, the lowest incidence of heading was observed in Under-16 females.
- Considerable differences between countries were apparent.
- Very few head injuries (none of them heading-related) resulted in a low incidence rate.
- Under-10 teams carried out the lowest number of headers per training session, followed by Under-16 females, Under- 12, and Under-16 males.
- In contrast, when taking exposure times into consideration lower heading incidence rates were found in Under-16 females and males compared to Under-10 and Under-12.
- No head injury occurred during all training sessions.
https://www.uefa.com/insideuefa/about-uefa/news/025e-0fb60fba795d-c82533...
PhD Programme Science and Health in Football - Introduction Max Smith
Head Injuries in Football (Max Smith, Sport and exercise physiology, MSc, USA)
In the 2018 FIFA World Cup, concussion protocol was not observed to have been followed after 63% of head collision incidents in players showing 2 or more symptoms of concussion. This is not significantly different from the 2014 FIFA World Cup, and remains an area of football that has yet to be taken seriously. As a global game there are varying levels of interpretation and required protocol throughout different federations. There is a need for the standardization of concussion protocol around the world and quality research to help make educated decisions on how players are treated and cared for. There are rule changes being made at youth levels eliminating or reducing heading without any empirical evidence to support such decisions. As retired footballers age there are questions being asked about cognitive deterioration or chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) being associated with concussive or sub-concussive trauma from repeated blows to the head. The more the teams, officials, and parents are educated about the severity of head injuries in football, the more reporting and precautions we will hopefully start seeing around the world.
Therefore, the doctoral project will focus on investigating head injuries in football focusing on changes in cognitive function in youth and adult players, preventative measures to reduce number and severity of head injuries, and education of head injuries in football. This project is conducted in cooperation with Prof. Dr. Dr. Claus Reinsberger, neurologist and head of the Institute of Sports Medicine at University of Paderborn.
Max Smith holds a Master of Science in Sport and Exercise Physiology at Manchester Metropolitan University, UK and a Bachelor of Science in Sport and Exercise Science at Rocky Mountain College, USA. His main research interests are looking at the effect of head injuries in football, both preventative measures and effects on the athletes later on in life.
PhD Programme Science and Health in Football - Introduction Cameron Scullard
Neuro-Athletic Training in Football (Cameron Scullard, Sport Scientist, MA Sport Science, South Africa)
Football can often be seen as one of the most physically demanding sports, not just in terms of the intensity and volume of movement, but also the quality of those movement patterns in which the body functions in order to enhance biomechanical performance and injury prevention. The concept of neuro-athletic training involves the functioning of the neuronal processes, linked to the brain and nervous system, which control the effectiveness and efficiency of all motoric output in the form of bodily movement. Traditionally, football has had a distorted perception on the importance of neuronal sciences and its direct effect of optimizing physiological capacities and subsequent football-specific movements. The nature of football, with position-specific demands, incorporates the use of many sensory motor functions to allow for dynamic balance, reaction time, peripheral vision, rapid changes in speed and distance perception. The sensorimotor system utilizes the visual, vestibular and proprioceptive functions to guide player’s spatial awareness of the body, particularly in relation to the ball, other players and aerial duels.
Therefore, this doctoral project focuses on a scientific approach to investigating neuro-athletic training for the enhancement of physical performance and football-related injury surveillance and prevention. The main aim of the study is to investigate the effects of eye and balance sensorimotor-related exercises on neuronal and biomechanical deficits, as well as the performance diagnosis of football-specific movements. The project is conducted in collaboration with the Deutscher Fußball-Bund (DFB; German Football Federation) and Prof. Dr. Dr. Claus Reinsberger, neurologist and head of the Institute of Sports Medicine at University of Paderborn.
Cameron considers himself to be a highly determined and self-disciplined researcher who is always seeking opportunities to explore the field of sport science and learn from others. He has achieved a Bachelors and Masters of Sports Science from the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), South Africa. His research experience has primarily focused on the Knowledge, attitudes and reporting behaviours of concussion injuries within school rugby. He also holds an honours degree in biokinetics from UKZN, and has been a registered as a private biokineticist specializing in orthopaedic injury rehabilitation for the past 2 years. Cameron has also worked as a Strength & Conditioning coach at two leading South African sports high-schools. His specific interests involve researching and applying injury preventative protocols to strength & conditioning setups.
PhD Programme Science and Health in Football - Introduction Dolores Dravinec
Position Specific Nutrition for Elite Football Players (Dolores Dravinec, Performance Nutritionist, MSc, Croatia)
In the World Cup tournaments, the greatest number of goals is scored by strikers (~54%), followed by midfielders (~33%) and defenders (~2%). However, the goal is rarely scored by an individual player and therefore a great physical and tactical role of all players is important for the team success. Detailed analysis of soccer matches shows differences in physical and tactical activity between playing positions. Literature shows the position-specific variability in the overall running distances, number of high-intensity runs and sprints during a typical game. Player’s individual position in the match is additionally strongly influenced by the team's specific strategy and tactical definition, but also by a player’s physical profile and fitness level. Demands of a football match require the high level of aerobic energy production and large anaerobic energy turnovers, which consequently results in high energy expenditure. Position-specific physiological demands may potentially result in position specific energy requirements, which could be in that case supported by specifically prescribed nutrition.
Therefore, the doctoral project will focus on investigating the relation of position specific physiological requirements and related energy expenditure in elite football. The main aim of the study is to investigate weather differences in physiological position specific requirements result in the need for position specific nutrition to support the optimal football performance. This project is conducted in cooperation with the German Football Association (DFB) and the German Sport University Cologne (DSHS Köln).
Dolores is an ambitious and enthusiastic researcher and performance nutritionist registered with SENr Graduate. She holds MSc degree in Applied Sport and Exercise Nutrition from the Oxford Brookes University, UK and BSc degree in Nutrition Science from the University of Zagreb, Croatia. She participated at several international sport and nutrition related conferences seeking for new scientific approaches and its practical application on the field. She has experience working with individual football players and teams advising them on proper nutrition. Her main research interest is nutrition for soccer players, development of hydration strategies, supplementation in sport and performance in hot and humid environments.
Sudden Death in Football (FIFA Registry)
FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) officially launched a worldwide Sudden Death Registry (SDR) in January 2014 to document fatal events in football. The sudden death of an apparently healthy football player is an uncommon and tragic event which attracts media attention, especially when professional footballers are involved. Vigorous exertion increases the risk of fatal cardiac events by three- to four-fold, since it acts as a trigger for malignant arrhythmias in the presence of underlying cardiovascular diseases. However, overall, regular physical activity is associated with a protective effect even when considering the temporary hazards experienced during athletic activity.
The aim of this registry (FIFA-SDR) is to detect the frequency of sudden death during football and to identify their causes as precisely as possible. Thus, existing screening and preventive measures will be improved or supplemented to help to prevent some of these deaths in the future. For further information or for reporting a case please follow the link.
Sudden Cardiac Death in Germany
Sudden cardiac death (SCD) of an apparently healthy athlete is a rare tragic event which attracts an abundance of media attention, especially when elite athletes are involved. Vigorous exertion increases the risk of SCD by the factor of 2.8, since it acts as a trigger for cardiac arrest in the presence of underlying cardiovascular diseases. Unusually high exercise intensities increase the relative risk of SCD, especially in recreational athletes with a poor training condition or in individuals who are in the early phase of returning to exercise. However, overall, regular physical activity is associated with a protective effect even when considering the temporary hazards experienced during athletic activity.
The aim of this register (SCD Germany) is to detect the actual magnitude of sudden death and survived cardiac death during sport and to identify their causes as precisely as possible. Thus, existing screening and preventive measures will be improved or supplemented to help prevent some of these deaths in the future. For further information about the projects or to report a case please follow the link.
"Check every single case carefully." Prof. Tim Meyer about using defibrillatoren in sport
Medical miracle, a incalcuable risk, favourable pre-conditions? The story about Daniel Engelbrecht (24) produced a lot of attention in German media. As the first German professional footballer ever he played a game for the Stuttgarter Kickers with an implanted defibrillator. Is this a one-time success story? Or a story that gives hope to many other patients suffering from heart diseases? The German national team physician Prof. Dr. Tim Meyer gives answers to this. The detailled interview can be found on DFB.de (only in German).