New warm-up program reduces leg injuries in country AFL clubs

A new sporting warm-up program developed by the Ballarat-based Federation University is reducing leg injuries in country football clubs.

Hamstring injuries are thought to be among the most frequent wounds suffered by AFL players, a perception likely to be confirmed by the AFL's upcoming annual survey of injuries.

Cameron Ward, the fitness trainer with the Ocean Grove Grubbers, told the ABC that leg injuries can be devastating for country clubs.

Ward explained "we can't afford our guys to be off the track for too long, so a hamstring injury, it could mean a player - a winger or a forward line guy - is out for three or four weeks, which can be crucial for the club.”

However, a warm-up program - now in its third year - is preventing injuries to calves, hamstrings, knees and ankles by focusing on technique.

Ward added "since we've rolled it out, we've had a 15% decrease in our soft tissue injuries."

Dr Alex Donaldson from the Australian Centre for Injury in Sport and its Prevention at Federation University says the research is getting good feedback among country clubs.

Dr Donaldson stated "If you can strengthen the person and you can also improve their technique for things like jumping and landing and changing direction, you've got a really good chance of reducing those sorts of injuries," he said.

The research will be presented at an International Olympic Committee sporting injury prevention conference in Monaco this month.

Dr Donaldson says he expects there will be a lot of interest in the research, particularly looking at the marketing side of the program, stating "there's a lot of interest in the sports injury field about how do you take these programs that are based in science and actually make them relevant for community football?

"You've got to have the science underpinning the program but you've got to have good way of getting clubs to pick it up and run with it."

Click here for more information on the IOC World Conference on Prevention of Injury & Illness in Sport.

30th March 2014 - STUDY FINDS NO DIFFERENCE IN PLAYER INJURY RATES ON ARTIFICIAL SURFACES