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A brand new paper finds that retired UK male skilled soccer gamers who reported foot or ankle accidents throughout their careers have been extra more likely to develop osteoarthritis in retirement. Retired gamers handled routinely with cortisone injections for his or her accidents have been much more more likely to report osteoarthritis.
The paper, “Injury and local injection and the risk of foot/ankle osteoarthritis: a case-control study in retired UK male professional footballers,” was printed in Rheumatology.
Skilled soccer is a high-speed contact sport with a excessive threat of harm. Foot and ankle accidents are significantly frequent, with ankle sprains being probably the most common ankle harm and metatarsal fractures probably the most frequent foot harm.
These accidents happen extra typically throughout soccer matches than in follow as a result of excessive velocity, leaping, frequent adjustments in route, and aggressive nature of the sport. Joint harm can result in ache, swelling and injury to the articular cartilage and different joint tissues and lead to subsequent foot/ankle osteoarthritis, which can lead to incapacity or power ache.
Though harm is widespread in male skilled footballers—virtually 25% of gamers undergo foot or ankle accidents throughout their careers—the widespread use of injection therapies comparable to corticosteroids, native anesthetic, platelet-rich plasma, and hyaluronic acid stays controversial resulting from issues about their long-term uncomfortable side effects (and restricted proof supporting the effectiveness of such remedy).
Injections can alleviate ache and permit gamers to return to video games extra rapidly. Nevertheless, the remedy might disguise underlying joint injury and will speed up joint structural deterioration over time.
The frequent use of injections might also worsen cartilage injury, significantly when mixed with the excessive bodily calls for required in skilled soccer.
Researchers right here examined retired UK male soccer gamers between August 2020 and October 2021 for instances by which a basic practitioner recognized foot/ankle osteoarthritis or carried out forefoot/ankle surgical procedure after the gamers’ retirement.
Of the 424 retired skilled soccer gamers studied, the investigators reported that 73% of retired gamers with osteoarthritis reported foot or ankle accidents, and 75% of gamers with osteoarthritis reported remedy with corticosteroid injections over the course of their careers.
The researchers warning that whereas corticosteroid injections are related to increased charges of osteoarthritis, this doesn’t essentially imply injections are making osteoarthritis extra seemingly, as injections are sometimes given after accidents which will have linked injections to osteoarthritis.
The investigators do level out that retired soccer gamers with osteoarthritis did report a better variety of injections right into a single ankle throughout a season, and plenty of obtained greater than 4 injections a season, which is greater than what’s really helpful by physicians.
“Our findings clearly show that a significant foot or ankle injury during a player’s career is a major, modifiable risk factor of osteoarthritis late in life,” stated the examine’s chief investigator, Weiya Zhang.
Extra info:
Damage and native injection and the chance of foot/ankle osteoarthritis: a case-control examine in retired UK male skilled footballers, Rheumatology (2025). DOI: 10.1093/rheumatology/keaf518
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Why so many professional soccer gamers develop osteoarthritis (2025, October 22)
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