THE RELATIONSHIP OF INJURY AND INJURY ASSOCIATED RISK FACTORS IN ETHIOPIAN PREMIER LEAGUE FOOTBALL PLAYERS

The purpose of this study was to show the relationship of injury and injury associated Risk Factors in Ethiopian Premier League Football Players. A prospective cohort study design was employed. 469 male football players from 16 teams of Ethiopian premier league participated using censuses method. FIFA Medical Assessment and Research Centre form used in order to record information about the players, injuries sustained in training sessions and matches during the competitive season. Data was analysed using descriptive and Pearson product moment correlation statistics. The significance level was set at p<0.05. The most predominant injury was strain, the maximum numbers (55; 37.2%) occurred on midfield players, followed by strikers (44; 29.7%), defensive players (43; 29.1%) and goalkeepers (6; 4%). The second predominant injury was sprain, highly occurred in defensive players (21; 42%), and followed by midfield players (16; 32%), strikers (10; 20%) and goalkeepers (3; 6%). Injured body part has a significance positive correlation with age (r = 0.109, r2 = 0.012, P < 0.021) at P < 0.05, a significance inverse correlation with height (r = - 0.154, r2 = 0.024, P < 0.002) at P < 0.01 and also the same result was observed with playing position (r = - 0.228, r2 = 0.052, P < 0.000) at P < 0.01. The highest prevalence of injury was observed in the middle age, in normal BMI and in outfield players. The midfielders sustained the higher strain injury. The defensive players have higher rates of sprain injury. A significance positive relationship has observed between injured body part and age, height and playing positions, however, insignificance result was observed with injury rate/type. While, inverse significance correlation was observed between injury rate/type and playing position.Therefore, the coaching and medical staffs from football clubs must be emphasize the biological or physiological and psychological characteristics of the players and inadequate rehabilitation after injuryto minimize the injury occurred with associated risk factors through improved program for training and fitness evaluation.