Journal of sport rehabilitation | 2021
Musculoskeletal Injury History Is Associated With Lower Physical and Mental Health in a Historical Cohort of Former National Football League Players.
Abstract
CONTEXT\nLittle research has examined health-related quality of life in former National Football League (NFL) players.\n\n\nOBJECTIVE\nExamine the association of musculoskeletal injury history and current self-reported physical and mental health in former NFL players.\n\n\nSETTING\nCross-sectional questionnaire.\n\n\nPATIENTS OR OTHER PARTICIPANTS\nHistorical cohort of 2,103 former NFL players that played at least one season between 1940 and 2001.\n\n\nINTERVENTION\nPlayers were grouped by self-reported professional career musculoskeletal injury history and whether injuries affected current health: (1) no musculoskeletal injury history; (2) musculoskeletal injury history, currently affected by injuries; and (3) musculoskeletal injury history, not currently affected by injuries.\n\n\nMAIN OUTCOME MEASURE\nThe Short Form 36 Measurement Model for Functional Assessment of Health and Well-Being (SF-36) yielded physical and mental health composite scores (PCS and MCS, respectively); higher scores indicated better health. Multivariable linear regression computed mean differences (MD) among injury groups. Covariates included demographics, playing history characteristics, surgical intervention for musculoskeletal injuries, and whether injury resulted in premature end to career. MD with 95% CI excluding 0.00 were deemed significant.\n\n\nRESULTS\nOverall, 90.3% reported at least one musculoskeletal injury during their professional football careers, of which 74.8% reported being affected by their injuries at time of survey completion. Adjusting for covariates, mean PCS in the injury and affected group was lower than the no injury (MD = -3.2; 95% CI: -4.8, -1.7) and injury and not affected groups (MD = -4.3; 95% CI: -5.4, -3.3); mean MCS did not differ.\n\n\nCONCLUSION\nMany players reported musculoskeletal injuries, highlighting the need for developing and evaluating injury management interventions.