Osteoarthritis and Neurological Impairment in Professional Footballers
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Investigation into the Prevalence of Foot/Ankle Osteoarthritis, Pain, Cognitive and Neurological Impairment in Former Professional UK Male Footballers. The FOCUS (Foot Osteoarthritis & Concussion in Uk Soccer) Study.
IRAS ID
261168
Contact name
Weiya Zhang
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Nottingham
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 11 months, 29 days
Research summary
Football is the most popular sports in the world with 300 million people playing it (FIFA 2007). Professional footballers are a particular group for whom the risk of sports-related injury is high. Most of these injuries affect the lower limb joints (e.g. ligament tears, bone fractures and muscles) and this predisposes them to the development of osteoarthritis (OA).
OA is a debilitating condition which causes disability, physical and psychological pain, and a reduced life quality. We previously found that knee OA and knee pain occurs 2-3 times more in footballers compared with general population men. Although foot and ankle injuries are very common amongst footballers, we do not know how this effects the development of foot/ankle OA and pain in this group
Professional footballers may also be more likely to develop neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer’s dementia or Parkinson’s, due to injuries or impacts to the head (concussion) during their careers. Dementias are also a major cause of disability and mortality affecting millions worldwide. However, we do not yet know if footballers are more likely to suffer from these conditions because the scientific evidence to date has been contradictory.Our study will firstly determine how common both these conditions are amongst footballers and secondly if footballers are more likely to develop these conditions compared with general population men (controls).
We will achieve this by sending a postal questionnaire (Stage 1) to a large number of footballers and control men registered on our databases. This will provide information on (i) foot/ankle pain, injuries and surgeries, and (ii) diagnosed dementias, problems with thinking/memory, head injuries, concussion, and other associated risk factors .
The second stage of the study will involve 250 footballers and 250 control men having clinical tests including (i) foot/ankle x-rays, and (ii) special tests for memory/thinking, to confirm if they are impaired.
REC name
East Midlands - Leicester Central Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
19/EM/0354
Date of REC Opinion
23 Jan 2020
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion