Angileri Hunter S, McLoughlin Daniel E, Owen Madeline M, May Jared M, Terry Michael A, Tjong Vehniah K
Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
H.S.A. and D.E.M. contributed equally to this work.
Orthop J Sports Med. 2023 Aug 2;11(8):23259671231177633. doi: 10.1177/23259671231177633. eCollection 2023 Aug.
Injury incidence is higher in the National Football League (NFL) than in other collision sports. Although previous research has identified that scheduling variations, including overseas games and bye week timing, does not affect concussion risk, data are currently lacking regarding the effects of scheduling variation on season-long musculoskeletal injury incidence.
To determine whether higher cumulative travel distance, overseas play, an early season bye week, and an expansion of the regular season is associated with higher injury rates in the NFL.
Descriptive epidemiology study.
All 1275 injuries across 5 NFL seasons from 2017 to 2018 through 2021 to 2022 were reviewed retrospectively. Injury data and travel distances were extracted from publicly available sources, which were cross-referenced for validation. Injury rates were calculated per 1000 athletic-exposures (AEs). Cumulative team travel distances were compared statistically using a linear regression. Single factor analysis of variance was used to compare categorical variables.
Travel distance did not significantly predict injury rates ( = .47), and there was no difference in injury rates between teams that played a game overseas versus teams that did not (19.3 injuries per 1000 AEs for both; = .96). In addition, no difference was found in injury rates ([109,2100[ = 0.704; = .73) or players placed on the injured reserve list ([99,778] = 1.70; = .077) between various bye weeks ( = .73). Injury rates did not differ between the new 17-game regular season (18.4 per 1000 AEs) versus the previous four 16-game regular seasons (19.7 per 1000 AEs; = .12). However, teams that did not qualify for the playoffs had a significantly higher injury rate (19.9 per 1000 AEs) as well as players on injured reserve (8.0 per 1000 AEs) than playoff-qualifying teams (18.4 and 6.8 per 1000 AEs, respectively; < .05 for both).
Over 5 NFL seasons, cumulative travel distance, overseas play, bye week timing, and adding 1 regular season game were not associated with increased injury rates in NFL players. However, a lack of regular season success was associated with higher injury rates and more players on injured reserve.
美国国家橄榄球联盟（NFL）的伤病发生率高于其他碰撞类运动项目。尽管此前的研究已经确定赛程安排的变化，包括海外比赛和轮空周时间，不会影响脑震荡风险，但目前缺乏关于赛程变化对整个赛季肌肉骨骼伤病发生率影响的数据。
确定更高的累计旅行距离、海外比赛、赛季初轮空周以及常规赛扩军是否与NFL更高的伤病率相关。
描述性流行病学研究。
回顾性分析了2017 - 2018赛季至2021 - 2022赛季共5个NFL赛季中的1275例伤病情况。伤病数据和旅行距离从公开可用来源提取，并相互交叉核对以进行验证。每1000次运动暴露（AE）计算伤病率。使用线性回归对球队累计旅行距离进行统计学比较。采用单因素方差分析比较分类变量。
旅行距离并未显著预测伤病率（P = 0.47），进行海外比赛的球队与未进行海外比赛的球队在伤病率上没有差异（两者均为每1000次运动暴露19.3例伤病；P = 0.96）。此外，不同轮空周之间在伤病率（F[109,2100] = 0.704；P = 0.73）或进入伤病储备名单的球员数量（F[99,778] = 1.70；P = 0.077）方面均未发现差异（P = 0.73）。新的17场常规赛的伤病率（每1000次运动暴露18.4例）与此前四个16场常规赛的伤病率（每1000次运动暴露19.7例；P = 0.12）没有差异。然而，未获得季后赛资格的球队伤病率（每1000次运动暴露19.9例）以及伤病储备球员数量（每1000次运动暴露8.0例）均显著高于获得季后赛资格的球队（分别为每1000次运动暴露18.4例和6.8例；两者P < 0.05）。
在5个NFL赛季中，累计旅行距离、海外比赛、轮空周时间以及增加1场常规赛与NFL球员伤病率增加无关。然而，常规赛成绩不佳与更高的伤病率以及更多进入伤病储备名单的球员相关。
