Introduction

Sports injury prevention is an important part of risk management in sport. Although sport and physical activities have many benefits, especially improved health and wellbeing, there is also an ongoing associated risk that participants may sustain an injury while participating in sport or training. Sporting clubs should therefore have in place a coordinated approach to sports injury prevention and injury management by having available properly trained sports medicine personnel, equipment and clearly understood procedures. Athlete health and wellbeing must always remain the primary consideration over all others in sport.

The risk of injury in sport can be significantly reduced by identifying and limiting or removing known risk factors. A systematic approach to sports injury prevention has been proven to greatly reduce the number and severity of sports injuries when scientifically based approaches and techniques are used. These techniques can often be implemented effectively by sports teams of all levels, generally at low cost, as they do not require much equipment or any special equipment.

Sports trainers have an important risk management role within sporting organisations and clubs in identifying and correcting risk factors to which their athletes may be exposed, as well as being properly prepared to respond to adverse incidents that may occur. They can assist in sports injury prevention in many ways, including ensuring the safety of grounds and equipment, and especially assisting with player preparation by designing or supervising warm-up and injury prevention exercise programs appropriate to the sport. Sports trainers can also assist player preparation and injury prevention with preventative taping and by ensuring other protective equipment is well chosen and properly fitted, taking into account the specific needs of the athlete and the demands of the sport.

General injury prevention principles

Sports Medicine Australia (SMA) advises adopting the following general injury prevention principles:

All of these points of general injury prevention are important in reducing the incidence of injury to athletes.

Sports injury surveillance

Sports injury surveillance is the collection of information related to sports injuries. As mentioned in Chapter 1, sports trainers can improve sports injury prevention programs by collecting information about how, when and where injuries occurred. This information can be used to identify patterns or groups of injuries that may have a common cause that can, in turn, be remedied. Injury surveillance starts with the collection of information on a suitable injury report form. This can be either a paper based system or an online system such as Sports Injury Tracker (see www.sportsinjurytracker.com.au).

Medical emergency planning

As part of their risk management processes sports clubs should have well-developed medical emergency prevention and management systems in place. A sporting organisation’s medical emergency plan should be summarised in a written document that is available to and clearly understood by all people within the organisation so that, in the event of a medical incident, whether major or minor, everyone knows what to do and what their particular role is at that time. To be effective, training should also be carried out within the club or team using simulated emergencies to ensure that the plan can be implemented effectively.

The Sports Medicine Australia SmartPlay program has developed a planning guide called ‘Medical emergency planning: a practical guide for clubs’ that is available on the SmartPlay website (www.smartplay.com.au). It has a checklist and action plan template that can be used to develop a medical emergency plan.

Extrinsic and intrinsic risk factors for injury

Risk factors for injury are often described as being either extrinsic, in other words external to the player, or intrinsic, which are internal factors. For example, extrinsic risk factors include the playing environment or sports equipment such as bats or balls that could cause an injury. Intrinsic risk factors include the player’s age, skill level, fitness and other factors affecting their suitability for a specific sport or sporting task, including biomechanical factors such as leg length differences or muscle weakness or imbalance.

The sporting environment

The sports trainer’s role includes checking that the playing environment is as safe as it possibly can be. This could involve minimising tripping or falling hazards, such as holes in the playing surface, sprinklers, unsecured floor matting etc, or checking that goal post padding is in place and properly secured.

The hardness of sporting grounds and certain types of grass or surface covering can also influence the incidence, type and severity of sports injuries. Ground hardness is considered to be a risk factor especially for lower limb overuse injury as well as skin injuries, bruises and other contact-related injuries. Surface traction can be a factor with different types of grass or artificial surfaces, especially in non-contact lower limb injuries, due to the shoe either slipping along or excessively binding with the surface. The types of grass and hardness of grounds can vary significantly between regions and may depend largely on prevailing weather patterns, soil types etc. Gaining extra knowledge about these types of risk factors is useful to sports trainers as they are then able to advise sporting clubs or event organisers as to the suitability of the playing surface.

The weather is another environmental risk factor for sports injury or illness. Excessively hot or cold weather can negatively affect a player’s coordination, which can lead to an increased risk of injury as well as to medical conditions such as hyperthermia or hypothermia (discussed further in Chapter 7). To ensure players’ health and wellbeing is properly protected, another important role for sports trainers is checking that they are properly hydrated and have suitable clothing for the prevailing weather conditions.

Figure 3.1 Sports injury prevention involves several components

Warm-up and injury prevention programs

Warm-up programs help to prepare athletes for sport both physically and mentally. They help to reduce injuries as well as improve sporting performance. A properly designed warm-up is essential for both training sessions and competition, although the type of warm-up program used might be very different. Warm-up and training programs will also vary depending on the specific sport as well as on factors such as the age and skill level of the participants.

Although warm-up programs help to reduce injuries in their own right, warm-ups can be combined with specific injury prevention programs, especially at training sessions. Injury prevention programs usually concentrate on improving strength, balance and coordination, which reduce the athlete’s risk of being injured while training or playing.

To be effective in reducing injuries and improving performance it is essential that there is a high level of compliance with the program. To improve athlete compliance, the coach and other officials should support the program and those responsible for delivering it to the athletes. It is also helpful if the athletes have a clear understanding of the reasons for the program and the anticipated benefits it will provide.

Warm-up

Warm-up prepares the athlete for training and competition. Warm-up exercises are designed, amongst other things, to:

increase blood flow to the exercising muscles

improve muscle contractions and, therefore, force production

reduce muscle tightness to increase flexibility

decrease stiffness of joints and connective tissue such as tendons

increase the sensitivity and conduction speed of nerve endings and nerves, which can then improve coordination and reaction time

prepare the heart and lungs to improve the delivery of oxygen to the body

mentally prepare the athlete for the upcoming event.

These factors all lead to a decreased chance of injury as well as improved sporting performance.

Planning a warm-up – general principles and other considerations

In planning warm-up and other training programs, a useful set of principles to keep in mind is sometimes referred to as the ‘SPIED’ factors.

Specificity of the exercise – the warm-up activity should include the specific muscles and movements to be used in the subsequent activity.

Participant’s energy levels – it is important to conserve the athlete’s energy for the event to follow.

Intensity of the exercise – the warm-up should be sufficiently intense to gently increase body temperature. A good guide is that participants should be able to talk with their exercise partners for the duration of the session.

Environmental conditions – in cool or cold conditions, the duration of the warm-up will usually need to be longer whereas, in warm or hot conditions, a long or intense warm-up could decrease performance by exhausting the players.

Duration of the exercise – the duration of the warm-up will take into consideration the time available and how long it is before the event starts, as well as the environmental and energy level factors mentioned above.

Components of the warm-up

Warm-up activities should include all major muscle groups and involve moving the joints through their normal range of motion for that sport. Ideally, warm-up activities should also be interesting or fun to perform so the participants are properly engaged and concentrating on performing them properly.

The actual components of the warm-up or training program can vary considerably, but a structure that has been found to be useful in reducing injuries and improving performance, especially for sports that involve running and jumping activities, consists of the following elements:

1. Running drills or other low intensity activities that gradually increase circulation to increase muscle and body temperature. Especially for sports that involve running, these drills can gradually progress from walking or light jogging to include more complex and higher demand movements such as running with knee lifts, shuttle runs, carioca running and many others, preferably those specific to the nature of the sport. More advanced and complex running drills can increase running speed and improve technique as well as increase muscle flexibility and circulation (see Figure 3.2). Additional suitable warm-up activities include swimming, rowing, cycling or other activities that are specific to the actual sport.

Figure 3.2 Running drills are often included in warm-up programs

2. Strengthening exercises for the major muscle groups used in the particular sport. Properly constructed exercise programs for sports injury prevention and performance take into consideration the way muscles work together in producing sporting movements. The goal is to improve controlled muscle power throughout the full range of movement and to develop muscle balance rather than just developing raw power or the size of individual muscles (see Figures 3.3 and 3.4).

Figure 3.3 The front bridge is a useful core strengthening exercise

Figure 3.4 Hamstring lowers can reduce the chance of hamstring strains

3. Balance and body control exercises. These are designed to improve balance and coordination and to correct the alignment of the body segments during sporting movements, which in turn improves the athlete’s ability to avoid situations where an injury is likely to occur. For example, research has shown a significant reduction in the number of lower joint injuries such as ankle sprains in athletes who have undertaken programs with exercises designed to improve their balance. These exercises often incorporate an unstable surface, such as a wobble board or balance mat, but can also be done effectively on any playing surface (see Figure 3.5). Ensuring that correct lower limb alignment is properly maintained during movements is an important component of body control exercises (see Figure 3.6). Balance and body control exercises can also incorporate sports-related tasks and can be performed in pairs or larger groups (see Figure 3.7).

Figure 3.5 Body control exercises on a balance mat

Only gold members can continue reading. Log In or Register to continue

Share this:

• Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

Related

Related posts:

Moving injured athletes Functional musculoskeletal anatomy The sports trainer in action Sports taping Common medical conditions affecting athletes Common sporting illnesses and injuries

Stay updated, free articles. Join our Telegram channel

Join