Musculoskeletal Soreness Location and Intensity in Soccer Athletes Across Multiple Seasons.

Objective: To compare soreness location and intensity between male and female soccer athletes across 2 competitive seasons.

Design: Descriptive Cohort Study.

Setting: Collegiate Sports Medicine Facility.

Participants: Forty male and 42 female collegiate soccer athletes.

Intervention: Season-long soccer trainings and games.

Main outcome measures: Athletes reported perceived soreness location and intensity daily. χ2 analysis and linear mixed effect models were used to compare soreness locations and intensities by sex.

Results: Male and female soccer athletes reported similar number of soreness instances, but male soccer athletes reported soreness more frequently at the ankle, foot, hip, pelvis, and posterior thigh. Female soccer athletes reported soreness more frequently at the anterior leg, anterior thigh, and knee. There was no significant difference in soreness intensity between sexes at any body location (P = 0.86). When collapsed across sex, the frequency of anterior thigh soreness was higher at preseason (7.49%, CI: 5.46-9.52) than at midseason (4.55%, CI: 2.52-6.57; t = -2.94, P = 0.023) and at postseason (3.00%, CI: 0.76-5.23; t = -3.74, P < 0.001). There was also a significant difference in hip soreness frequency between the preseason (2.35%, CI: 1.32-3.33) and the postseason time points (0.52%, CI: -0.73% to 1.67%; t = -2.68, P = 0.023).

Conclusions: Male and female athletes differ in the locations of their lower extremity soreness. However, lower extremity soreness intensity does not differ between sexes. Soccer athletes report soreness more frequently during the preseason and midseason than during the postseason. With tools to measure daily soreness location and intensity, clinicians could create targeted interventions to reduce soreness and limit its negative affect.