Time to return to sports in football players recovering from lower limb soft tissue injuries: a systematic review with meta-analysis

Objectives Depict football players’ average times to return to sports (RTS) after non-contact lower limb soft-tissue injuries.Design Systematic review with meta-analysis.Data sources PubMed, WoS, Scopus, PEDro, Google Scholar and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled.Eligibility criteria for selecting studies We included records investigating time to return to sports in football players suffering from non-contact lower limb soft-tissue injuries.Data synthesis Time to return to sports was the main outcome. We appraised the quality of the included studies with the QualSyst tool for quantitative research. A random-effects model was wielded for the meta-analyses.Results 39 studies were included. Time to return to match (RTM) for ligament injuries ranged from 43 days (lateral collateral ligament) to 249.6 days (ACL rupture and repair (ACLR); RTM for muscle injuries ranged from 21 days (hamstring muscle injury) to 69.1 days (soleus); RTM for tendon injuries ranged from 29.4 days (patella tendinopathy) to 220.4 days (Achilles tendon rupture). Time to return to training (RTT) for ligament injuries is also longest for ACLR (212.9 days) and lowest for lateral ankle sprain (19.9 days); RTT for muscle injuries ranged from 8 days (hamstring muscle injury grade 0 to 65.3 days (HMI grade 3)); popliteus tendinopathy (11 days) had lowest RTT among tendon injuries, groin pain had the longest (45 days).Conclusions This review provides an overview of RTS times—expressed as RTT and RTM—for lower limb injuries in football players. Our results also underscore the existing variability in wielded RTS definitions and injury classifications.