One in three reports pain in a given week: a one-season prospective study on prevalence of pain and analgesic use in amateur female and male football players

Objectives: To study the prevalence of pain and analgesic use in amateur football players and explore sex-based and age-based differences. Methods: A prospective cohort study of 316 amateur football players (185 females, 131 males), mean age 20 years (range 15-54). Baseline data on demographics and pain history in the preceding season were collected. Players reported training/match participation, pain, analgesic use and injuries every 2 weeks over a 7-month season (April-October 2023). Results: 2439 weekly reports were analysed. Weekly pain prevalence was 40.7% (95% CI 36.4% to 45.4%) in female players and 37.2% (32.4% to 42.7%) in male players. Moderate to severe pain was more frequently reported in youth females than youth males (weekly prevalence 20.5% (15.8% to 26.8%) vs 13.1% (9.6% to 17.9%), p=0.032). Female players reported more analgesic use than male players (27.6% (23.8% to 32.1%) vs 11.2% (8.4% to 14.8%), p