The prevention, diagnosis and treatment of injuries are key factors in the daily practice of sports medicine, due to their great importance in high-level sports. The main aim of prevention programs is to minimize the effect of risk factors, avoid a high incidence of injury and to decrease injury severity.
The multifactorial origin of injuries complicates the identification of risk factors (extrinsic and intrinsic), and taken together, these factors and their interaction predisposes the athlete to injuries. In recent years, the importance of the genetic component of each individual has begun to emerge as a possible cause of susceptibility to injury.
In this article, a review is presented on genetic studies related to connective tissue repair or regeneration and to pave the way to future Sports Medicine research. This information could be very useful in order to individualize injury prevention strategies and to optimize the therapeutic and rehabilitation process after injuries.
