Hip and groin related clinical and radiological outcomes in professional female football players

Football (soccer) is the most popular sport worldwide and more females will start to play it in the future. In male football, hip and groin injuries occur frequently, especially in professional athletes (2 per team, per season). This is not yet known for females. It can negatively impact performance in short and long term. High hip load can result in an abnormal shape of the hip joint, called cam morphology. This can give limited range of motion and pain (femoroacetabular impingement syndrome). The etiology, consequences and treatment are not investigated for females. What we do know from previous research (Feyenoord cohort) is that cam morphology is prevalent in 80% of professional male athletes, which is 15 times higher than average. Cam morphology gives a 2-10 times higher risk to develop hip osteoarthritis in the future. Prevention can result in a better quality of life, less drop-out in work/sport, less surgery, which finally results in medical and socio-economic cost reduction. The first step in prevention is to quantify the extent of the problem of cam morphology and hip osteoarthritis. In professional female athletes, no information is available about these topics. Primary aim is to determine the prevalence of cam morphology in this group and to identify the hip and groin related injury burden.

It is hypothesized that cam morphology prevalence is lower in females, due to earlier osseous maturation and differences in hormonal status.

Cross-sectional, intention for future follow-up.

Imaging (X-rays of pelvis and hips), hip muscle testing (dynamometer), range of motion testing (goniometer) and palpation of all groin entitites (following Doha Agreement).