In this edition of the Football Medicine and Performance Editorial, we delve deeper into one of the most common injuries seen in football, hamstring injuries. Hamstring Injuries in the first half of the 2023/24 season accounted for 2,319 days lost in the English Premier League. Martin McIntyre discusses the epidemiology of hamstring injuries in his article ‘Unravelling the hamstring quandary’. Further to this Bram Swinnen looks not only at rehabilitating but also reducing the risk of these injuries. Digging further into the aspect of hamstring injury risk, Adam Johnson’s article kindly looks at how lateral collateral ligament (LCL) injuries could predispose athletes to a subsequent hamstring injury. He kindly provides some tips on how to alter rehabilitation based on the increased demands on the biceps femoris following an LCL injury.

With anterior cruciate ligament injuries (ACL) being on the rise in women’s football, the need to understand its management in football medicine and performance is key. In this edition, Dr Eleanor Trezise interviews the renowned Mr Andy Williams discussing the injury mechanism, conservative and surgical treatment options for this injury. The full podcast can be accessed from the FMPA channel on Spotify/Soundcloud/Apple.

This edition also highlights the role of key performance indicators in Elite Performance Settings with Martin Buchheit’s article ‘Is Your MDT Scoring Goals or Just Hitting the Post?’ This article highlights the critical importance of robust communication, transparent decision making structures, progressive personal traits and objective metrics such as player availability.

We hope you enjoy these articles as well as many others in this edition and that they will help improve your evidence-based practice within the world of football to optimise player health and performance.

From the Editors:

Dr. Sean Carmody, Dr. Fadi Hassan, Dr. Andrew Shafik, Dr. Daniela Mifsud