Score-celebration injuries among soccer players

In one of the most popular sports worldwide, extensive attention is given to the 'trademark' score celebrations performed by professional top-level soccer players.

While the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) devotes a page of its website to these dramatic celebrations, there has been no mention of the sometimes serious injuries and loss of playing time that have followed these events.

In a recent study published in the July 2005 issue of The American Journal of Sports Medicine, researchers examined these events among professional soccer players in an effort to prevent future injuries.

Dr Bulent Zeren from the Center for Ortho-padedics and Sports Traumatology in Turkey teamed up with Dr Haluk H Oztekin to report on 152 male soccer players from professional leagues in Turkey who had been treated for injuries incurred during a competitive match.

Over the duration of two playing seasons, nine of the 152 players had injured themselves while performing a post-goal celebration. The injuries ranged from ligament and muscle strains as a result of 'sliding' across the field, to rib and clavicle fractures as a result of the players 'piling up' on each other. The most severe injury was an ankle fracture that required surgery. These injuries took place in nine separate games where the field was natural turf and was dry in all but the incident requiring surgery. Although each patient was enrolled in an early rehabilitation program, the average playing time lost was five weeks.

The researchers of this study concluded that exaggerated celebrations after making a goal, such as sliding, piling up and tackling team mates, can result in serious injury. In addition, the research suggests that stricter rules should be enforced for penalising this type of behaviour in an effort to prevent score-celebration injuries.