Football for people with amputations: Exploratory systematic review

Abstract

The study aims to review the scientific evidence related to football for amputees. For the reference search, the following keywords were used as descriptors: «Football» and «Amputee».The terms were entered in English in the following computerized databases: SPORTDiscus, PUBMED, Web of Science and SCOPUS, considering all the documents published up to September 2020.To limit the search, four inclusion criteria were introduced: 1) Select documents available in full text or with abstract, 2) Have enough relevant information about soccer for amputees (Minimum 50 words), 3) Provide information related to the physical condition, training, injuries and / or social aspects of the players of soccer for people with amputations, and 4) Be written in Spanish, English or Portuguese.The exploratory systematic review featured ten football related documents for amputees. The existing documents related to the subject are scarce as a consequence of the lack of evolution of this modality. These manuscripts, for the most part, deal with aspects such as strength and endurance. Furthermore, only one document talks about the use of inertial devices in their measurements.Therefore, there is a need for further research in the field of football for amputees.