Female footballers need better coaching to protect hamstrings, experts say

Exclusive: Injury research suggests training not keeping up with demands of elite women's game

Coaching methods are failing to keep up with the rapidly increasing demands of women's professional football, resulting in more hamstring injuries among top female players. Experts are calling for women to be trained at a higher level to prevent such injuries.

The incidence of hamstring injuries in female footballers has historically been lower than in men, but these figures are changing at the elite level and the incidence is now similar. They are the most common injury subtype among elite-level female players, accounting for 12-16% of all time-loss injuries.