Enhancing Prevention of Injuries in Community Youth and Adult Amateur Football Players

Summary

This is a type 3 hybrid cluster randomised controlled trial, where implementation of the intervention is the primary outcome and preventive effectiveness is the secondary outcome.

The overall purpose of this study is to evaluate the added value of implementation support on the use and preventive effectiveness of the injury prevention exercise programme Knee Control+ in male and female, youth and adult amateur football teams.

Research questions

1. Does use and injury preventive effect of Knee Control+ differ between teams randomised to an intervention group receiving additional support for Knee Control+ use and teams randomised to a control group with standard access to digital Knee Control+ programme material?
2. Does coach self-efficacy to use Knee Control+, player motivation and player training dosage differ between the intervention and control groups?
3. What are the mediators and moderators that influence use of Knee Control+?
4. How well do the intervention and control groups adhere to Knee Control+ recommended use and is there an association between adherence and preventive efficacy?
5. How are different components of the support material used by the intervention group teams, and how is the implementation support perceived by administrators, coaches and players in the clubs (end-users) and by fitness coaches who educate coaches about the programme (intervention deliverers)?
6. How do coaches perceive their engagement to lead Knee Control+ training with their players and has this changed after having used the implementation support material?

Football teams will be randomised before the 2025 season to an intervention group receiving additional support for the implementation of Knee Control+ or to a control group without this support. All teams will have access to digital programme material via the Swedish Football Association.

Data on implementation of Knee Control+ and injuries (players only) will be collected weekly (coaches) and monthly (players) throughout the season using web-based questionnaires. Behavioural outcomes: for coaches self-efficacy, action and coping planning and perceived support from the club, and for players autonomous motivation, basic psychological needs and basic need support, will also be analysed.

Conditions

• Injury Prevention in Sports
• Adherence

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Support intervention for the use of Knee Control+

Coaches will be offered a smorgasbord of support interventions that they can choose from depending on their specific needs: physical and digital workshops before and during the study, site visits to their team, digital programme material, leaflets and social media posts. Fitness coaches will be responsible for physical workshops to train the football coaches.

OTHER

Information about Knee Control+

Coaches receive information about injuries in football and the efficacy of injury prevention exercise programmes at a pre-season digital workshop, and guided to access the Knee Control+ programme from the Swedish Football Association website.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• The Swedish Research Council

  collaborator OTHER_GOV

• the Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• Linkoeping University

  lead OTHER_GOV

Principal Investigators

• Martin Hägglund, Professor · Linköping university, Department of Health, Medicine and Caring Sciences, Unit of Physiotherapy

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

10 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2025-03-25

Primary Completion

2025-11-30

Completion

2026-06-30

Countries

• Sweden

Study Locations