Smart textile solutions as biofeedback method for injury prevention for Latvian football youth league players

Lower limb injuries are the most common in youth football leagues, accounting for 72% to 93% of all injuries. The leading prevention programme in football today is the FIFA 11+ warm-up program, which reduces the risk of injury by 30%. Evidence from several studies confirms the addition of feedback during training reduces the incidence of injury by 40%. Recent studies have shown that the smart textile sock system is an objective, easy-to-use tool for real-time foot monitoring and is an interactive feedback tool for athletes. However, there is a lack of information on the impact of the objective feedback provided by the smart textile sensor socks system on the outcome measures of football players prevention programmes. In the first phase of the project, a cross-sectional study involving youth league footballers will be conducted to identify the most effective feedback elements of the smart sock system. In the second phase, a pilot study will be conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of prevention exercises using the feedback provided by smart textile sensor socks. The results of the functional tests and the study outcomes will be selected as performance indicators to evaluate the smart textile sensor sock system. Conclusions on the use of the smart textile sensor sock system as a feedback method for injury prevention in Latvian Youth Football League players will be drawn based on the results obtained from the project.

Outcomes to be achieved

1. Five original research articles in journals listed in the WoS/SCOPUS databases;
2. To develop an injury prevention plan for football players incorporating the DAid® smart sock system;
3. To develop a virtual reality module and friendly app to motivate players;
4. Continuous monitoring of players' injury prevention tasks and real-time data acquisition;
5. Long-term injury tracking after the end of the prevention program.