SynthesisPeerJ2026
Effectiveness of sports injury prevention programs for adolescent and children football players: a meta-analysis and systematic review.
Synthesis in PeerJ, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Children and adolescent football players are at increased risk of sports-related injuries due to ongoing physical and neuromuscular development. Although various injury prevention programs have been proposed, evidence regarding their effectiveness in these populations remains limited. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of structured injury prevention programs in reducing overall and site-specific injury incidence among youth football players. Methods: A systematic search of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) was conducted across Cochrane Library, PubMed, EBSCO, Embase, and Web of Science. Eligible studies included football players aged 3-18 years receiving structured injury prevention interventions. The primary outcome was overall injury incidence, and secondary outcomes included lower-limb, knee, ankle, muscle, hip/groin, contact, and non-contact injuries. Pooled estimates were calculated as incidence rate ratios (IRRs) based on exposure hours. Results: Nine RCTs involving 16,636 participants and 1,248,381 exposure hours were included. Injury prevention programs significantly reduced overall injury incidence (IRR = 0.62, 95.0% CI [0.49-0.78]; Conclusions: Injury prevention programs are associated with reduced overall and several site-specific injury risks in youth football players. However, evidence for less frequently reported outcomes remains limited and should be interpreted cautiously. Further high-quality, long-term trials are needed to improve the precision of these findings.
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