Head Injuries and Correlates in Beach Soccer: Video-Based Analysis of Five Consecutive Seasons.

Abstract

This study evaluated the characteristics of head injuries in male beach soccer players via video footage. Video recordings of all official beach soccer tournaments played by European national male beach soccer teams from 2018 to 2022 ( n = 516) were analyzed retrospectively. The main collected variables were the injury mechanism, bleeding, the injured player action, whether the injury led to time loss, and whether there were any video signs of possible concussion in an injury case. A total of 214 head injuries were documented, corresponding to 68.3 injuries/1000 player hours. The injury mechanism was apparent in 202 injuries. Of these injuries, 15.3% had video signs of suspected concussion, and 9.9% led to time loss. The most common mechanism was opponent contact (74.8%, n = 151) and the most common submechanism was head-to-head contact (23.8%, n = 36), followed by foot-to-head contact (23.2%, n = 35). A total of 38.1% ( n = 77) injuries were related to heading. Injuries with video signs of suspected concussion were 44.53 times more likely to result in time loss. The findings revealed that head injury in beach soccer is an urgent problem that should be addressed. The authors strongly recommend future studies that include clinical assessments to better understand head injuries in beach-soccer.