Umeå University's logo

Teachers and coaches are key figures in promoting and sustaining injury-preventive behaviors among youth athletes. Although previous studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of injury prevention interventions in floorball, little is known about how these practices are implemented in elite floorball high schools. This study explored how teachers in school sports at Swedish certified elite floorball high schools integrate injury prevention into everyday coaching, focusing on their experiences and strategies. Semi-structured interviews with 15 teachers across Sweden were analyzed using qualitative content analysis to identify themes and underlying categories. Our analysis resulted in one overarching theme: "Facilitating students' development to become their own best coach," reflecting teachers' efforts to strengthen autonomy and competence through progression in injury-preventive training. Three sub-themes captured this process: navigating challenges and opportunities in the school-context, promoting students' own learning and sense of responsibility, and leading with intentionality. Teachers varied exercises, used open communication, and encouraged responsibility, while managing a major challenge—helping students balance total load from school training, club training, and academic stress. Findings highlight injury prevention as an inherent part of the school sport context and underscore the need for coordinated efforts among teachers, team coaches, and sport federations to manage athlete load effectively. These insights offer practical implications for coaching practice and contribute to critical reflection on how pedagogical strategies can support both performance and well-being.

Objectives Sport injuries in youth sports are common, and holistic predictive approaches have been called for to better understand how combinations of risk and protective factors contribute to injury occurrence. This study utilises a person-centred approach to identify how combinations of psychological and physical factors are associated with injuries in youth floorball players.

Methods At season start, 222 youth athletes conducted physical field tests and measures of self-reported mental health and demographics. Postseason, participants reported any sustained acute or overuse injuries during the season. Latent profile analysis, using psychological (anxiety and depression) and physical (field test performance) factors, such as input variables, was employed to identify risk profiles. Covariate analysis was conducted with demographic predictors of profile membership. Finally, sport injury occurrence was compared between profiles.

Results Three profiles were identified: ‘Moderate mental health/high physical performance’ (profile 1, n=101), ‘Very low mental health/average physical performance’ (profile 2, n=49) and ‘High mental health/low physical performance’ (profile 3, n=72). Athletes injured at baseline were less likely to belong to profile 1. Profile 1 had higher injury occurrence than profile 2 (OR=3.63, 95% CI (1.34 to 9.81)) and profile 3 (OR=2.63, 95% CI (1.06 to 6.47)) during the season.

Conclusion Our results indicate that players in the profile characterised by moderate mental health and high physical performance (profile 1) at the start of the season, reported the highest injury occurrence during the season (based on retrospective injury reporting). Future studies should explore factors that can explain this relationship, such as engagement in risk situations, load and recovery.

Background: More knowledge about floorball goalkeepers’ game movements and biomechanical demands is warranted. Therefore, the aim of this study was to observe type and frequency of female floorball goalkeepers’ movements during a game.

Methods: Twelve female goalkeepers (mean age 22 years) were included. An observational study design using video recording was used to explore goalkeepers’ movements during a game. Three different positions were reported in minutes, percent of playing time, and the number of times the goalkeepers performed different movements.

Results: The results revealed that of total playing time, goalkeepers were playing on their knees 31% (± 10%) of the time, in quadruped position 1.3% (± 1.9%) and 67% (± 11%) they played standing. Five movements were performed more frequently; short side movements, pull, stand up, small rotation with legs, and longer ball covers at the goalpost. A large variation in movement was seen regarding how many and what type of movements each goalkeeper performed during the game.

Conclusion: Floorball goalkeepers perform a high number of movements and spend a substantial amount of the match time on their knees. There is no existing research on how these game aspects may impact load as well as physical needs, emphasizing the need for further research. Knowledge from the study lays the groundwork for further studies and may be used when developing future preventive training programme and rehabilitation.

Objective: The purposes of the study were to examine injury incidence among students engaged in elite sports during their first year of study, and to explore factors associated with injury in this population.

Methods: Two surveys were carried out one year apart. A total of 243 students responded to the initial baseline survey; 111 also responded to a follow-up survey. The surveys addressed injury events and characteristics, sports participation, experienced stress, relaxation, control during leisure time, and study pace.

Results: Prior to commencing their studies, 51% of the athletes had experienced an injury; 54% experienced an injury during their first year of study. A previous injury increased the odds of a new injury (OR = 3.174, p < 0.01). Athletes sustaining an overuse injury prior to studies had higher risk for sustaining a new overuse injury during the first year of studies (OR = 4.312, p < 0.001), while sustaining an acute injury prior to studies did not significantly increase the risk for sustaining a new acute injury. Sex, type of sport, and study pace were not associated with increased odds of injury.

Conclusion: A concerning 54% injury incidence was found during the first year of study. A previous injury increased the likelihood of sustaining a new injury. The findings suggest that injury-prevention methods should be focused particularly on students who have been injured in the year before they begin their studies.

Introduction: The subjective experiences of healthcare professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic have been extensively studied; however, little research has focused on the experiences and perspectives of physiotherapists’, especially in the Nordic countries. The aim of this study was to explore the lived experiences and perceptions of physiotherapists regarding the rehabilitation of COVID-19 patients in hospital settings during the COVID-19-pandemic in Finland.

Methods: Hermeneutic phenomenology was employed as a methodology. Ten physiotherapists were recruited using purposive and snowball sampling. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews and analysed using thematic analysis.

Results: Four themes were identified: (1) pragmatic development of sensitive rehabilitation practices in a new and confusing working environment; (2) becoming a member of a cohesive team; (3) mixed feelings and reactions when facing the brutality of an unknown disease; and (4) being supported by colleagues but lacking support from the healthcare organisation.

Conclusion: The results may benefit healthcare organisations in improving organisational processes for ensuring the wellbeing of physiotherapists during future crises. Concrete actions to support employees could be developed by arranging resources for professional counselling and reflection during and after such crises, and by developing appropriate systems for recognising professional conduct in spite of difficult circumstances.

Purpose: Floorball is a team sport associated with many potential injuries, but several studies have shown that injury-prevention programmes (IPEPs) can reduce the risk of injuries occurring. Despite the existence and efficacy of injury-prevention exercise programmes, the incidence of injuries is still high. An important factor in conducting injury-prevention programmes regularly is player motivation. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to explore the perceptions of and motivations behind floorball players participating in injury-prevention programmes in relation to their athletic context in elite Swedish clubs.

Method: Thirteen players from three different teams—five men and eight women—were interviewed. The interviews were analysed using qualitative content analysis.Results: One main overall theme was identified: Insufficient conditions for motivation. The theme consists of four categories: “high demand on player responsibility”, “the influence of injuries”, “lack of time”, and “support from experts”.

Conclusions: The results of the study show that the conditions necessary for floorball player’s motivation in their sporting environment to perform injury-prevention exercise programme are insufficient, despite knowledge of their significance in avoiding injuries. The two main detriments to the motivation of the players to conduct injury-prevention exercise programmes were a lack of time, and injury-prevention programmes not being prioritised in everyday training. Based on the results, it is suggested that floorball players need improved conditions in order to be able to perform injury-prevention programmes on a regular basis, and moreover, that injury-prevention exercises must become a natural part of everyday training.

One common practice in talent development environments during the investment years (age 16+) and elite sport, in general, is the use of physiological testing of the athletes’ physical determinants of performance. In this article, the regime of controlling and monitoring athletes’ bodies for elite sport production through physiological testing will be examined. To this end, we explored athletes’ experiences of what has been done and why physiological tests are carried out the way they are to understand the practice of physiological testing in relation to athlete development. The material in this study is based on interviews with adult elite sport athletes (four group interviews with eight individual athletes in three different sports, four male and four female, and individual interviews with twelve female and five male football players). Schatzki's and Reckwitz's theorizing on social practices, together with Dewey's theorizing on learning from experience, are used to explore and illuminate the practice of physiological testing and what learning is enabled and constrained within that practice. The findings show that the meaning and significance of physiological testing for athletic development relates to how the tests are followed up and talked through with the athletes. The analysis shows that there exists a form of sport-wide commonality where the same understandings, rules or ends—irrespective of which sport is concerned—govern coaches’ and athletes’ behavior regarding physiological tests. The physiological testing practice articulates action intelligibility through rules and structures which emphasizes tests as isolated quantified indicators of physical status. The use of physiological tests as a part of learning or as a means for athlete development can therefore be questioned.

We aimed to examine whether the 9+ screening test score could predict injuries in elite floorball players. Eighty‐four elite floorball players participated in the study. At baseline, two physiotherapists assessed the participants using the 9+ screening test. The test score reflects strength, stability, mobility, and functional movement pattern with an emphasis on the lower body and core. Injuries that occurred the following season (2013/2014) were recorded by medical staff, coaches and/or self‐reported by the players. Overall, there was no relationship between the 9+ screening test score and injury risk (OR = 0.96 per SD lower test score, p = 0.84). We therefore conclude that the 9+ screening test is not suited for overall injury risk prediction in elite floorball players. Whether the test may be used to predict risk of certain injury types more strongly related to inadequate mobility and strength (e.g. muscle ruptures or strains) warrants further investigation.

The aim of this study was to investigate injury incidence and patterns in female and male floorball players of different ages compared with matched controls. This study involved all floorball players in Sweden and licensed during 2010–2012, and matched controls selected from Sweden’s Total Population Register. Injury diagnoses were acquired from national health care registers. The cohort comprised 148,372 players and 614,678 controls, with the median age 13 (range, 6‒69) years. In most age groups, players were at increased risk of traumatic injury, particularly knee and eye injuries. The incidence of cruciate ligament injury increased steeply from the ages of 13 years in girls and 16 years in boys, and was more than 7 times higher in female players aged ≥ 16 years than in controls. The risk of eye injury for floorball players compared to controls was increased from the age of 10 years in male players and approximately doubled from the age of 13 years; in adult female players this risk was more than 6 times higher than in controls. Development and implementation of injury prevention measures are essential so that floorball players can safely practice their sport. Given the increased risk of injuries seen also in young players, such measures should be applied in all age categories.