Factors Associated With Knee Pain and Heel Pain in Youth Soccer Players Aged 8 to 12 Years.

BACKGROUND

Soccer is played by many children younger than 12 years. Despite its health benefits, soccer has also been linked to a high number of sport-related injuries.

PURPOSE: To investigate the relationship between clinical factors and knee or heel pain in youth soccer players.

STUDY

DESIGN

Cross-sectional study; Level of evidence, 3.

METHODS

Study participants included 602 soccer players aged 8 to 12 years who were asked whether they had experienced episodes of knee or heel pain. Data were collected on age, body mass index, years of playing soccer, playing position, and training hours per week. Associations of clinical factors with the prevalence of knee or heel pain were examined by univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses.

RESULTS

Episodes of knee and heel pain were reported by 29.4% and 31.1% of players, respectively. Multivariate analyses revealed that older age and more years of playing soccer were significantly and positively associated with the prevalence of knee pain (P = .037 and P = .015 for trend, respectively) but did not identify any significant associations for heel pain.

CONCLUSION

In this study of youth soccer players, knee pain was associated with older age and more years of play, but heel pain was not significantly associated with any factor.