Football medicine strategies: Return to play [Roi - Calzetti e Mariucci]

A recent study showed that only 55% of players return to competitive sport following an Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) reconstruction (1). Furthermore, it is also demonstrated that the risk of sustaining a subsequent new ACL injury is 5.8% for the ipsilateral and 11.8% for the contralateral limb at a minimum of five years follow up. At the fundamental base, it is all about Return To Play (RTP), and the only question doctors, players and teams seem to care about is: “When will the player be back on the field, safely?” RTP is a broad subject, and this abstract book of the XXV International Conference on Sports Rehabilitation and Traumatology is dedicated to the topic of Football Medicine Strategies for Player Care. The aim is to give to the reader a wider vision; one which can help to be successful in her/his career. We try to do this by sharing the expertise and knowledge that has taken those individual practitioners and professionals to the top of Football Medicine and Science. Indeed, the Conference is, above all, an opportunity for discussion and represents an opportunity for the exchange of ideas and experiences. Therefore in this book, in addition to the abstracts the invited speakers sent to us before the conference, we have inserted all of the abstracts that have been accepted for free oral communication, poster presentation and workshops. More specifically, Return to Play is analysed through sharing different points of view and disciplines: sports science, sports medicine, orthopaedics, physical therapy, psychology, general medicine, radiology, chiropractic and osteopathy, podiatrists, athletic training and team coaching. Through this multidisciplinary approach the reader can gain a deeper understanding of the whole sports medicine and rehabilitation process, and not only the techniques themselves. Our overall purpose is to bring health in the world of Football. There are nearly 300 million football players in the world and we want to help, so that when you are part of the team caring for player health, you will have the skills to be at the top of the world’s Football Medicine Community. We are confident from previous experience of editions of the International Conference on Sports Rehabilitation and Traumatology that this volume will further feed the debate on the Football Medicine Strategies for Player Care, and we thank all of the Authors who contributed to the realisation of this book.