All amateur soccer players registered with the Royal Spanish
Football Federation (RSFF) belong to a mutual benefit
society. The mutual benefit society provides free medical
support to assist all registered soccer players who suffer
from any physical complaint due to their soccer practice.
This investigation included all the injuries reported to
the medical services of the mutual benefit society during
a single season. The medical staff included in this investigation
was composed of 126 medical doctors specialized in
soccer injuries. The doctors were previously instructed on
how to correctly fill out the questionnaire and to report
all the injuries that they attended during a single season
(from September 2010 until August 2011). Each medical
practitioner recorded injury data on a player’s injury audit
questionnaire in a paper format. The questionnaire was
completed when an amateur soccer player required the
attention of an RSFF physician, and the results were
sent to the head of medical services at the RSFF. Doctors
were aware that a recordable injury was defined as ‘‘any
physical complaint sustained by a player that resulted
from a soccer match or training session, irrespective of
the medical attention or time loss from soccer activities.’’
Injuries were analyzed by 2 physicians, and the opinion
of a third physician was sought when the first 2 physicians
disagreed on the diagnostic. The questionnaire was based
on the F-MARC consensus statement15 and included several
computable items.