The PERT Study - Training Factors of PERformance and Injuries (PERT)

November 5, 2026 updated by: University Hospital, Clermont-Ferrand

The goal of this observational study was to learn about injuries in professional football players and to find out whether daily monitoring data could help predict injuries. The study followed male players from the first team and the reserve team of a French first-division professional football club over one full competitive season.

The main questions were:

How often did injuries occur among players over the season? Which day-to-day changes in routinely monitored data were linked to the onset of a new injury (all injuries combined, intrinsic and extrinsic)? Were the results similar when looking only at intrinsic injuries?

Each day, the club's staff recorded each player's physical workload during training sessions and matches using tracking technology. Players also reported how they felt, including sleep, fatigue, mood, and pain. New injuries were recorded daily by the club's medical staff. Players took part through the club's usual daily monitoring, with no additional tests or visits.

Study Overview

Status

Status

Indicates the current recruitment status or the expanded access status.
Completed

Conditions

Conditions

The disease, disorder, syndrome, illness, or injury that is being studied. On ClinicalTrials.gov, conditions may also include other health-related issues, such as lifespan, quality of life, and health risks.

Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.

Study Type

Study Type

Describes the nature of a clinical study. Study types include interventional studies (also called clinical trials), observational studies (including patient registries), and expanded access.
Observational

Enrollment (Actual)

Enrollment

The number of participants in a clinical study. The "anticipated" enrollment is the target number of participants that the researchers need for the study.
77

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • France
      • Clermont-Ferrand, France
        • CHU de Clermont-Ferrand

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

The key requirements that people who want to participate in a clinical study must meet or the characteristics they must have. Eligibility criteria consist of both inclusion criteria (which are required for a person to participate in the study) and exclusion criteria (which prevent a person from participating). Types of eligibility criteria include whether a study accepts healthy volunteers, has age or age group requirements, or is limited by sex.

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Child
  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

Male

Sampling Method

Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Male football players from the first team and the reserve team of a French first-division professional football club, followed over one full competitive season.

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Male football players belonging to the first team or the reserve team of the participating French first-division professional football club during the study season

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Fewer than 20 days of available monitoring data during the season

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Observational Models: COHORT
  • Time Perspectives: RETROSPECTIVE

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort

Group / Cohort

A group or subgroup of participants in an observational study that is assessed for biomedical or health outcomes.
Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.
Professional football players

Male players from the first team and the reserve team of a French first-division professional football club, followed daily over one full competitive season through the club's routine monitoring of external workload, self-reported wellness and injury status.
Other: Routine daily monitoring

No intervention was assigned. Data came from the club's usual daily monitoring: external workload measured by tracking technology during training sessions and matches, and self-reported sleep, fatigue, mood, pain and perceived intensity.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, the planned outcome measure that is the most important for evaluating the effect of an intervention/treatment. Most clinical studies have one primary outcome measure, but some have more than one.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Injury prevalence and occurrence of new injuries
Time Frame: Daily from June 26, 2023, to May 19, 2024 (47 weeks).

Daily injury status (non-injured or injured) recorded by the club's medical staff, used to describe season-long injury prevalence.
Daily from June 26, 2023, to May 19, 2024 (47 weeks).
Player characteristics
Time Frame: Daily from June 26, 2023, to May 19, 2024 (47 weeks).

Age (years), professional status (reserve team or professional), playing position (defender, midfielder or forward) and number of previous injuries (0, 1 or ≥2), examined as putative factors associated with injury occurrence.
Daily from June 26, 2023, to May 19, 2024 (47 weeks).
External workload
Time Frame: Daily from June 26, 2023, to May 19, 2024 (47 weeks).

Measured by tracking technology during training sessions and matches: match exposure (yes or no), session duration (minutes), total distance covered (km), number of accelerations and decelerations per day, distance covered (m) and number of sprints per day at 80-90% and 90-100% of each player's individual maximal speed. Examined as putative factors associated with injury occurrence.
Daily from June 26, 2023, to May 19, 2024 (47 weeks).
Self-reported wellness and perceived exertion
Time Frame: Daily from June 26, 2023, to May 19, 2024 (47 weeks).

Sleep time (hours/day), sleep quality (1 = best to 7 = worst), mood (1 = best to 7 = worst), fatigue (1 = min to 7 = max), pain (1 = min to 7 = max) and perceived exertion (1 = min to 10 = max). Examined as putative factors associated with injury occurrence.
Daily from June 26, 2023, to May 19, 2024 (47 weeks).

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Sponsor

The organization or person who initiates the study and who has authority and control over the study.
University Hospital, Clermont-Ferrand

Investigators

Investigators

A researcher involved in a clinical study. Related terms include site principal investigator, site sub-investigator, study chair, study director, and study principal investigator.
  • Principal Investigator: Frédéric Dutheil, University Hospital, Clermont-Ferrand

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

Study Start

The actual date on which the first participant was enrolled in a clinical study. The "anticipated" study start date is the date that the researchers think will be the study start date.
July 1, 2024

Primary Completion (Actual)

Primary Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention to collect final data for the primary outcome measure. Whether the clinical study ended according to the protocol or was terminated does not affect this date. For clinical studies with more than one primary outcome measure with different completion dates, this term refers to the date on which data collection is completed for all the primary outcome measures. The "anticipated" primary completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the primary completion date for the study.
May 30, 2025

Study Completion (Actual)

Study Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention/treatment to collect final data for the primary outcome measures, secondary outcome measures, and adverse events (that is, the last participant's last visit). The "anticipated" study completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the study completion date.
May 30, 2025

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

First Submitted

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submitted a study record to ClinicalTrials.gov. There is typically a delay of a few days between the first submitted date and the record's availability on ClinicalTrials.gov (the first posted date).
November 2, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submits a study record that is consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. The sponsor or investigator may need to revise and submit a study record one or more times before NLM's QC review criteria are met. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
November 5, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

First Posted

The date on which the study record was first available on ClinicalTrials.gov after National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review has concluded. There is typically a delay of a few days between the date the study sponsor or investigator submitted the study record and the first posted date.
November 9, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

Last Update Posted

The most recent date on which changes to a study record were made available on ClinicalTrials.gov. There may be a delay between when the changes were submitted to ClinicalTrials.gov by the study's sponsor or investigator (the last update submitted date) and the last update posted date.
November 9, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator submitted changes to a study record that are consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
November 5, 2026

Last Verified

Last Verified

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator confirmed the information about a clinical study on ClinicalTrials.gov as accurate and current. If a study with a recruitment status of recruiting; not yet recruiting; or active, not recruiting has not been confirmed within the past 2 years, the study's recruitment status is shown as unknown.
October 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

Other Study ID Numbers

Identifiers or ID numbers other than the NCT number that are assigned to a clinical study by the study's sponsor, funders, or others. These numbers may include unique identifiers from other trial registries and National Institutes of Health grant numbers.
  • 2023_DUTHEIL (PERT)

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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