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Muscle Injury RTP Design in Football; Effects of Backward Design vs Forward Design.
Sponsor: Universitat de les Illes Balears
Summary
Introduction "Return-to-play" (RTP) is an English term that corresponds to "return to competition". It is important to understand that this return is a constant, dynamic, and personalized decision-making process . The main objective of RTP is not to predict the exact moment of an athlete's return; rather, it is to prevent new injuries. For this, adequate decision-making is necessary. There are several important steps in the process, including correct diagnosis, strict control of workloads, and intelligent management of modifiers intrinsic to the sport that can lead to anxiety and stress How are the pieces of the RTP puzzle arranged and managed? How are RTP processes evaluated today? How should RTP be understood? Should it be understood statically, as a checklist, or as a constant decision-making process involving the player? Main objective: Evaluate the design of the RTP process for muscle injuries in sports. Specific objectives: * To compare two RTP designs and evaluate how their design influences the anxiety experienced by the player. * Identify variables that may be altered when choosing a regressive or progressive RTP design, such as sleep quality and cortisol level. * To establish direction in the design of the RTP process. * Create complete clinical guidelines on muscle injuries in sports with a focus on RTP design. Material and Methods Definition of the Study Subjects The subjects of the study will be all players belonging to the first or B team who suffer a muscle injury diagnosed by magnetic resonance imaging. At the time of injury, they will be randomly assigned to either the control group (following a regressive RTP design) or the intervention group (following a progressive RTP design). Masking will be double-blind. The sample size will be N=74. The secondary variables will be recorded in the database after diagnosis by MRI. Subsequently, the primary variables will be measured and recorded at the beginning, middle, and end of the RTP period. It is estimated that approximately half of the necessary sample size has been reached: about 37 subjects with muscle injury. The first statistical analysis will then be carried out to observe the preliminary results. After three years, once the analysis has been completed, the results and conclusions will be written up for publication in a journal.
Official title: Muscle Injury Return To Play Design in Football; Effects of Backward Design Versus Forward Design . A Randomized Controlled Trial
Key Details
Gender
MALE
Age Range
18 Years - 40 Years
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Enrollment
74
Start Date
2025-09-01
Completion Date
2028-09-01
Last Updated
2025-06-18
Healthy Volunteers
No
Conditions
Interventions
Return to play program with progressive design
This design has more open objectives than the regressive design. In the progressive design, the duration of the return-to-play program is not determined by a future date, but rather by the player's daily progress. This design is less commonly used for scheduling tasks and planning work. It is intended to be compared with the regressive design to determine which is more appropriate.
Return to play program with regressive design
Control Group: Subjects with muscle injuries assigned to this group will follow a Return to Play program with a regressive design. This design has fixed times and objectives from the beginning of the program to predict the athlete's exact discharge time. This design is commonly used for scheduling tasks and planning work. It is intended to evaluate the benefits and drawbacks of the design and compare them with those of the progressive design to determine which is more appropriate.
Locations (1)
University of Balearic Islands
Palma de Mallorca, Balearic Islands, Spain