1. Is there a correlation between height velocity and musculoskeletal
complaints? A retrospective pilot study on academy football players
An important factor that
may increase the risk of
injury in young athletes is
growth rate. The soft
tissues elongate passively in
response to the longitudinal
growth of the bones and
thus become progressively
tighter especially during
periods of rapid growth[1].
The growth spurt in boys
may occur anytime
between 10 and 18 years of
age and may reach value of
8-12 cm/year. Growth
spurts may result in
changes in the ratios of
muscle strength to body or
limb mass and moments of
inertia, and soft tissues may
experience increased stress
and strain [2]. The
adolescent growth spurt in
height - Peak Height
Velocity (PHV) can be
predicted by a formula
based on age, weight,
height and sitting height.
Years from the PHV indicate
maturity off set [3].
All Manchester City FC
academy football players (age
10-15) had their height
measured over 12 months
period (January 2012- January
2013). Growth velocity (cm
per year) and Maturity off set
was calculated. Retrospective
analysis of medical and
physiotherapist notes over 12
months period (January 2012
- January 2013) was done to
establish which players had
records of MSK problems.
Players with no records were
grouped as ‘non-injured’.
Players with records were
grouped as ‘injured’.
Independent samples t-test
was used to compare both
groups for Age (at the
beginning of the study),
Height velocity, and Maturity
off set.
We had 72 male players. ‘Non-
injured’ group comprised of 26
players. ‘Injured’ group had 46
players. ‘Injured’ group was
closer to their predicted PHV
age than ‘non-injured players
although the difference was
not significant (p-value 0.13).
Overall, there was no
statistically significant
difference found between the
groups (Table 1.).
This study did not take into account position of
the player on the pitch, amount of
training/games done by each child over studied
period. Therefore we do not know the exact
training load sustained by ‘injured’ and ‘non-
injured’ groups.
Also, we did not consider severity (i.e. young
footballers with injury resulting in over 1 month
off training time and players with minor muscle
strain returning to play within 3 days were all
grouped as ‘injured’) and frequency of the injury
in the players.
This pilot study showed no association between
academy football players’ height velocity,
maturity off set and recorded MSK complaints. A
further prospective study on a larger group of
young players would be useful to confirm or
refute the findings.
Introduction
Aim
Method
Results
Conclusion
We wanted to investigate a
possible connection
between growth velocity,
maturity off set, and MSK
complaints of the academy
football players.
Baltsezak S, Turner E, Downie G.
Manchester City Football Club Academy, Platt Lane, Manchester, UK
References
Parameters Group Mean P-
value
Age
(years)
‘injured’ 12.64 0.4
‘non-injured’ 12.38
Height velocity
(cm/year)
‘injured’ 5.8 0.6
‘non-injured’ 6.1
Maturity off
set
(years)
‘injured’ -1 0.13
‘non-injured’ -2
1. Micheli L and Klein J. Sport Injuries in Children and adolescents. Br J Sp Med 1991, 25(1).
2. Hawkins D and Metheny J. Biomechanical perspectives of sports injury. Medicine and Science in Sport and Exercise 2001; 1701-1707.
3. Sherar et al. Prediction of adult height using maturity based cumulative height velocity curves. J. Pediatr. 2005;147:508-14.
BASEM2013AnnualCongress, 31st October-1st November,St-George’s Park,Burton-on-Trent,UK
Table 1.