Abstract

After screening, 82 field soccer players from the region of Utrecht, who suffered from a knee injury during the period between august 1 1995 and march 1 1997, were interviewed by a sports physician. This medical specialist used a standardised questionnaire, in which amongst other the etiology of the injury, the first (para)medical treatment, the follow-up treatments and the recovery were questioned. Two routings through the (para)medical field of health care with enough cases were found: one routing beginning with family doctors and another one beginning with the emergency room in hospitals. The main differences between these two routings appeared to pertain to the type of injury and to the probability that injuries were diagnosed. The family doctors saw relatively many overuse injuries, while emergency rooms in hospitals saw relatively many acute injuries. The family doctors treated the injuries themselves or referred to other medical providers without a diagnosis in 59% of the cases. It turned out that anterior cruciate ligament and meniscus injuries were insufficiently recognized by family doctors. Consequently in case of such injuries too long doctors delays may be the result. Treatment without diagnosis was found in the emergency room in hospitals routing only once. Verf.-Referat