Days to Return to Participation After a Hamstrings Strain Among American Collegiate Soccer Players

Context: Among US collegiate soccer players, the incidence rate and the event characteristics of hamstrings strains differ between sexes, but comparisons in the return-to-participation (RTP) time have not been reported. Objective: To compare the RTP time between male and female collegiate soccer players and analyze the influence of event characteristics on the RTP time for each sex. Design: Descriptive epidemiology study. Setting: Data were collected from collegiate teams that voluntarily participated in the National Collegiate Athletic Association Injury Surveillance System. Patients or Other Participants: Collegiate soccer athletes who sustained 507 hamstrings strains (306 men, 201 women) during the 2004 through 2009 fall seasons. Main Outcome Measure(s): Nonparametric statistics were used to evaluate RTP time differences between sexes and among categories of each event characteristic (ie, time of season, practice or competition, player position). Negative binomial regression was used to model the RTP time for each sex. All analyses were performed separately for first-time and recurrent strains. Results: We found no differences in the RTP time between sexes for first-time (median: men = 7.0 days, women = 6.0 days; P = .07) or recurrent (median: men = 11 days, women = 5.5 days; P = .06) hamstrings strains. For male players with first-time strains, RTP time was increased when the strain occurred during competition or the in-season/postseason and varied depending on the division of play. Among female players with first-time strains, we found no differences in RTP time within characteristics. For male players with recurrent hamstrings strains, the RTP time was longer when the injury occurred during the in-season/postseason. Among female players with recurrent strains, RTP time was longer for forwards than for midfielders or defenders. Conclusions: Although we found no differences in the RTP time after hamstrings strains in male and female collegiate soccer players, each sex had unique event characteristics that influenced RTP time.