Epidemiology of hamstring injuries in 538 cases from an FC Barcelona multi sports club

Hamstring injuries are the most common muscle injuries in team sports. The aims of this study were to describe the epidemiology of hamstring muscle injuries in the professional and amateur sport sections of a multi-sport club Football Club Barcelona (FCB) and to determine any potential correlation between return-to-play (RTP) and injury location, severity of connective tissue damage, age, sex, and athlete's level of competition.

This descriptive epidemiological study with data collected from September 2007 to September 2017 stored in the FCB database. The study included non-contact hamstring injuries sustained during training or competition.

A total of 538 hamstring injuries were reported in the club's database, of which 240 were structurally verified by imaging as hamstring injuries. The overall incidence for the 17 sports studied was 1.29 structurally verified hamstring injuries per 100 athletes per year. The muscle most commonly involved in hamstring injuries was the biceps femoris, and the connective tissue most frequently involved was the myofascial. There was no evidence of a statistically significant association between age and RTP after injury, and no statistically significant difference between sex and RTP. However, the time loss by professionals was shorter than for amateurs, and proximal hamstring injuries took longer RTP than distal ones.

In the 17 sports practiced at multi-sport club, the incidence of hamstring injury was 1.29 per 100 athletes per year. Players from sports in which high-speed sprinting and kicking are necessary, and amateurs, were at higher risk of suffering a hamstring injury. In addition, proximally located hamstring injuries involving tendinous connective tissue showed the longest RTP time. Age did not seem to have any influence on RTP. Documenting location and the exact tissue involved in hamstring injuries may be beneficial for determining the prognosis and RTP.