Sports Performance and Injury Research: Methodologic Limitations and Recommendations for Future Improvements

Evidence-based research has resulted in incredible advances in sports medicine and is an important component of minimizing injury risk. Such research is similarly important when applied to care delivery to athletes after injury. For research into injury reduction and treatment outcomes to be most impactful, however, the methods must be of sufficient rigor to generate high-quality evidence. Two recent trends in sports injury research have led to specific concerns about evidence quality: 1) use of athletic performance metrics as an injury or treatment outcome and 2) use of publicly available data for injury or treatment research.