To provide the most accurate data of any football medical record system it is important that you choose the correct status for your players.

Broadly speaking there are two types of player status; those that affect the player’s availability and those that do not. Choosing the correct status will have an impact on both the player’s individual availability as well as that of the team’s.
It is important at this stage to note the consensus statement relating to the definition of an injury.

The Consensus statement on injury definitions and data collection procedures in studies of football (Soccer) injuries (C Fuller, J Ekstrand, A Junge et al) is available free for download [here].

Benchmark54 adheres to the guidance for collecting research data outlined in this journal article. By doing so there are one or two situations where a players injury status or injury situation details may not be immediately obvious.

Training Exposure: 

Team based and individual physical activities under the control or guidance of the team’s coaching or fitness staff that are aimed at maintaining or improving players’ football skills or physical condition. [1]

Pre-match warm up and post-match cool down are recorded as training exposure and not a match injury [1]. We collect these automatically in Benchmark54 as training injuries, but it is important to realize this when it comes to looking at player and team injury reports.

Injury Severity: 

The number of days that have elapsed from the date of injury to the date of the player’s return to full participation in team training and availability for match selection. [1]

This statement has the most significant influence on the status of injured players in Benchmark54. We all know players train and even play matches with injuries. However, it is not the injury we are interested in here as much as the impact of the injury on the ability of the player to participate.
So a player may have a broken nose but if they are able to play in a match then, from an football participation point-of-view, the injury is resolved. Any new absence from participation due to this injury is considered a recurrent injury and must have a new injury card opened.

Auto-resolving open Injuries/Illness: Matches. 

In order to comply with the guidelines of the consensus state if a currently injured or ill player is selected for a Match (either Starting 11 or Bench) then the system will automatically resolve the incident.

Auto-resolving open Injuries: Training. 

Incidents are also auto-resolved in training if you select any of the “Present -” choices other than ‘Present-Rehabilitation’.

If you have any questions regarding any of the points in this article please get in touch : enquires@benchmark54.com

 

Laurence

 

[1]

1: Consensus statement on injury definitions and data collection procedures in studies of football (soccer) injuries
C W Fuller, J Ekstrand, A Junge, T E Andersen, R Bahr, J Dvorak, M Hägglund, P McCrory, W H Meeuwisse. Br J Sports Med. 2006 March; 40(3): 193–201. doi: 10.1136/bjsm.2005.025270  [link]