This participant information sheet will provide key information to help you decide if you’d like to take part in the study, setting out why we are doing the study, what your participation would involve, what benefits or risks you might encounter, and what will happen after the study ends. We will go through this information with you and answer any questions. If you agree to take part in this study, you will be asked to sign an informed consent form, which you will be given a copy to keep. Please ensure you have read and understand all the pages of this participant information sheet. Please don’t hesitate to contact any of the people listed at the end of the participant information sheet if you have any additional questions or concerns about this study. We have provided you with a variety of contacts, which are independent or related to the research group, to suit your needs, concerns, or questions. We would like to remind you that for your consent to be legal and ethical it must be from voluntarily given by a person with capacity, with no undue influence, after you have been adequately informed, and it must be a fair choice.
1. What is the purpose of the study?
The purpose of the present study is to investigate the RTP criteria for hamstring injuries in Elite European football: a survey of current practice. We aim to collect such information from football practitioners using a survey.
2. Why is the study important and what will participation in the study involve?
Hamstring strain injuries (HSI) are the most reported injury in professional football. Over the last 21 years, hamstring injuries increased from 12% in the 2001/02 season to 24% in the 2021/22 season. The re-injury rate has been reported to be between 15 and 20% and is linked with a longer time to return to play (RTP). Medical teams have to balance the need for players to RTP as quickly and safely as possible to avoid re-injury. Despite the relevance of this topic in professional football, there is little evidence of the best criteria to clear players to return to football performance. Due to the lack of specific guidelines and validated criteria for RTP assessment following an HSI, analysing expert clinical practice can help understand the currently most utilised criteria.
Therefore, the aims of this paper are (1) to describe which criteria are used by practitioners in elite football to progress players through different stages of rehabilitation following an HSI and (2) to understand the difference in management between a myotendinous and intratendinous HSI.
3. What are the possible benefits of the study?
There are several direct benefits to you if you choose to participate. If you decide to participate, you will discover more about research in sport performance. Additionally, you will understand how training is utilized to enhance performance and reduce injury risk in sports populations. This experience may benefit your training or the training of other practitioners. Finally, you will be furthering education through a scientific study.
4. What are the possible risks of the study?
There are no anticipated risks to participants of this study. There is a very small risk of a data breach occurring. However, all information provided by participants is anonymous, stored privately and password-protected. Questionnaire responses are anonymous, any identifiable information within responses will be disregarded. After the completion of the study, data will be archived anonymously for potential future use in relation to this study.
5. What if I feel uncomfortable with an aspect of the study?
You are within your rights to withdraw from the study at any time prior to completion of the questionnaire. All responses are anonymous; therefore, responses may not be identified for withdrawal or deletion following submission. All responses will remain unidentifiable, and you do not need to provide any information you are uncomfortable with. An external point of reference is also available: Staff Research Ethics Committee to discuss any concerns with the project.
6. Do I receive payment for my involvement with the study?
No, completion of the questionnaire is voluntary.
7. What are your rights?
· You will be under no obligation to answer any part of the questionnaire, you may leave any questions you do not want to answer blank.
· You have the right to stop completing the survey at any time at any time, without needing to provide a reason. (Researchers potentially will still use the part of the survey you completed)
· You have the right to be notified of any breach of confidentiality, in the unlikely event that this occurs.
8. What happens after the study?
Your answers will be analyzed along with all other questionnaire responses and discussed as part of the written report for this study.
9. Who do I contact for more information or if I have concerns?
If you have any further questions or require more information about the study, please do not hesitate to contact the following people:
Staff Research Ethics Committee - research.ethics@uos.ac.uk
Dr Marco Beato – m.beato@uos.ac.uk
Thank you for reading this participant information form.
If after reading this information you are happy to participate in the study, please continue to the following questionnaire. The questions are separated into small sections and should take approximately 10-15 minutes to complete.
Thank you in advance for your participation.
Your continuation with the questionnaire beyond this point will be accepted as your provision of informed consent to participate.
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