Effects of COVID-19 on Rate of Injury and Position-Specific Injury During the 2020 National Football League Season

Abstract

Abstract Costello II, JP, Wagner, JD, Dahl, VA, Cohen, JL, Reuter, AM, and Kaplan, LD. Effects of COVID-19 on rate of injury and position-specific injury during the 2020 National Football League season. J Strength Cond Res 38(1): 97–104, 2024—Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the National Football League (NFL) made changes to its operations for the 2020 season. We hypothesize an increase in the rate of injuries during the 2020 season. Publicly available data were reviewed to identify NFL injuries from the 2015–2020 seasons. Player position, description of injury, date of injury, and injury setting were recorded. p ≤ 0.05 was considered statistically significant. For the 2020 season, compared with the 2015–2019 seasons, there was an increased risk of injury during the regular season overall relative risk (RR) = 1.308 (p < 0.05), week (W)1 RR = 7.33 (p < 0.05), W1–6 RR = 1.964 (p < 0.05), W7–12 RR = 1.8909 (p < 0.05), and during the postseason overall RR = 1.1444 (p < 0.05), calculated using analysis of variance. There was an overall increased risk of abdominal or core injuries RR = 1.248 (p < 0.05), groin or hip injuries RR = 2.534 (p < 0.05), and hamstring injuries RR = 3.644 (p < 0.05). There was an increased risk of hamstring injuries in cornerbacks RR = 3.219 (p < 0.05) and running backs RR = 1.1394 (p < 0.05), hip or groin injuries in guards RR = 1.105 (p < 0.05), Achilles tendon injuries in safeties RR = 1.6976 (p < 0.05), quadriceps injuries in running backs RR = 1.6191 (p < 0.05), and arm injuries in defensive tackles RR = 1.221 (p < 0.05). There was an increase in the overall rate of injuries in the 2020 NFL season, both in the regular season and postseason, compared with the 2015–2019 seasons. The overall rate of abdominal or core, groin or hip, and hamstring injuries increased. Specific player positions saw unique increases in rates of injuries. These findings may be due to numerous operational changes implemented, such as reduced in-person training and the elimination of the preseason, leading to suboptimal, sports-specific conditioning and increased risk of musculoskeletal injury.