ArticleKnee surgery, sports traumatology, arthroscopy : official journal of the ESSKA2020
Every second retired elite female football player has MRI evidence of knee osteoarthritis before age 50 years: a cross-sectional study of clinical and MRI outcomes.
Article in Knee surgery, sports traumatology, arthroscopy : official journal of the ESSKA, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Occupational risk factors for meniscal lesions: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC musculoskeletal disorders · 2021Pooled it
- The Risk of Knee Osteoarthritis in Professional Soccer Players—a Systematic Review With Meta-AnalysesDeutsches Arzteblatt international · 2021Pooled it
- Effects of blood flow restriction combined with electrical stimulation on muscle functions and performance in university football players with knee osteoarthritis.Scientific reports · 2025Trial
- [BK 2118: knee osteoarthritis in professional football : Expert assessment of occupational exposure, sports injury, and competing causes].Orthopadie (Heidelberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- Posttraumatic osteoarthritis after athletic knee injury: A narrative review of diagnostic imaging strategies.PM & R : the journal of injury, function, and rehabilitation · 2025Review
- Is Quality of Life a Reason Related to the Retirement of Professional Male Soccer Players?Translational sports medicine · 2025Article
- Lower limb clinical osteoarthritis and its association with joint pain and function, and severe injuries and surgeries, in women professional football players: a cross-sectional observational study.South African journal of sports medicine · 2025Article
- Hang up your cleats and hope for the best? A cross-sectional study of five health domains in retired elite female rugby players.BMJ open sport & exercise medicine · 2024Article
- Self-reported reproductive health of retired elite women's footballers: a cross-sectional study.BMJ open sport & exercise medicine · 2024Article
- Patellofemoral Pain, Q-Angle, and Performance in Female Chinese Collegiate Soccer Players.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2023Article
- Beyond the medals: a cross-sectional study exploring retired elite female athletes' health.BMJ open sport & exercise medicine · 2023Article
- Treatment, Return to Play, and Performance Following Meniscus Surgery.Current reviews in musculoskeletal medicine · 2022Review
- Semi-quantitative magnetic resonance imaging scoring of the knee detects previous injuries in professional soccer players.Knee surgery, sports traumatology, arthroscopy : official journal of the ESSKA · 2022Article
- Intelligent Algorithm-Based Magnetic Resonance for Evaluating the Effect of Platelet-Rich Plasma in the Treatment of Intractable Pain of Knee Arthritis.Contrast media & molecular imaging · 2022Article
- Health conditions among retired professional footballers: a scoping review.BMJ open sport & exercise medicine · 2022Article
- Return to Sport and Reinjury Rates in Elite Female Athletes After Anterior Cruciate Ligament Rupture.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2021Review
- Delayed ankle muscle reaction time in female amateur footballers after the first 15 min of a simulated prolonged football protocol.Journal of experimental orthopaedics · 2020Article
- Meniscal Injuries in the Olympic and Elite Athletes.Indian journal of orthopaedics · 2020Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeTo assess knee health in retired female football players, using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and self-report. The focus of analysis were degenerative changes of the tibiofemoral joint, and their relationship to osteoarthritis symptoms and previous knee injury.
methodsForty-nine retired elite, female football players (98 knees) aged 37 years on average participated. Tibiofemoral cartilage and meniscus status of both knees were evaluated using MRI and graded according to modified Outerbridge and Stoller classifications, respectively. Symptoms were assessed through a standardised questionnaire (Knee Osteoarthritis Outcome Score: KOOS). Knee injury history was recorded via a semi-structured interview. To investigate how injury variables relate to outcomes, binary logistic regression models were used and reported with odds ratios (OR).
resultsFifty-one per cent of players (n = 25) fulfilled the MRI criterion for knee osteoarthritis, 69.4% (n = 34) had substantial meniscal loss and 59.6% (n = 28) reported substantial clinical symptoms. Chondral- and meniscal loss were associated with significantly lower scores on three of five KOOS subscales (p < .05). Both chondral and meniscal loss were significantly predicted by previous traumatic knee injury (OR = 4.6, OR = 2.6), the injury affecting the non-striking leg (OR = 8.6, OR = 10.6) and type of injury; participants with combined ACL/meniscus injuries had the highest risk for substantial chondral and meniscal loss (OR = 14.8, OR = 9.5). Chondral loss was significantly predicted by isolated meniscus injury treated with partial meniscectomy (OR = 5.4), but not by isolated reconstructed ACL injury. Clinical symptoms were only significantly predicted by previous traumatic knee injury (OR = 5.1).
conclusionsSerious degenerative changes were found in a high number of retired female football players' knees 10 years after their career. Meniscal integrity is key for knee osteoarthritis outcomes in young adults, and thus, its preservation should be a priority.
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