Shortened pre-season lifts injury spike risk, warn Adelaide exercise experts as sport training resumes
Sports medics are preparing for a run of injuries in coming weeks as eager amateur athletes are warned they need to work on their match fitness before rushing into competition.
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The slashing of pre-season sports programs due to COVID-19 restrictions has some of the state’s top exercise experts worried there will be a spike in sports injuries when play resumes.
Of particular concern to exercise physiologist Max Martin are court sports, such as basketball and netball.
The co-founder of Norwood-based iNform Health said the extended off-season could impact on players’ readiness to resume high intensity training and competitive play.
“This (is) a particular concern for netballers because the sport’s explosive components put some of the highest demands on the body with quick accelerations, changes of direction, jumping and landing,” Mr Martin, a former strength and conditioning coach with the Adelaide 36ers, said.
“We are ramping up very quickly into competitive sport – there are some codes that are going to have three weeks of training and then go straight into games.
“We know very clearly from research most injuries happen either at training camp, when the intensity really ramps up, or during the early parts of the season.
“Over the last eight weeks or so of restricted training most people haven’t had access to a gym and while they may have been running to maintain fitness, that doesn’t replicate the rapid changes of direction they are going to see on court.”
Netball-playing colleague Karla Newman, who is also an exercise physiologist, agreed this year’s unusual lead into winter sport had increased the risk of injury.
“I’m concerned that injury risk this season is most likely higher, particularly if players have not kept up with their own training and prepared their bodies to take on game day load,” she said.
“Injuries that concern me the most are ankle sprains and more serious knee injuries such as an ACL – female athletes are three and a half times more likely to sustain a non-contact ACL injury than males.”
Ms Newman said it was important for children to be involved in a range of sports and activities to improve motor control and help them develop strength, including playing outdoors.
“One of the biggest things we see with younger players is a lack of landing control, where they lack strength in the hip musculature to control their knee alignment, increasing injury risk,” she said.
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Sportsmed physiotherapist Glenn Dods said incorporating injury prevention programs into pre-game and training warm up was key.
As football director at Adelaide City, he has made it compulsory for all coaches to run the FIFA Medical Network’s 11+ program, specifically designed to reduce ACL injuries in soccer players.
A large-scale study in Scandinavia found the injury-prevention warm-ups and drills reduced injury rates by 30 to 40 per cent, he said.
“Injury prevention programs are vitally important in terms of reducing this – it is a fait accompli,” Mr Dods said
Chris Bishop is senior podiatrist at Norwood’s The BioMechanics Lab which uses state-of-the-art force platform and 3d gait analysis technology to identify players at risk of injury.
“We are starting to see (ACL and serious ankle sprains) more often in young adolescent patients and these injuries can have a lifelong effect not just on the joints but also mental and physical health,” Dr Bishop, also a research consultant in footwear development for ASICS, said.
During the week Dr Bishop’s company, in partnership with iNform Health, launched a new program, CourtReady aimed to help clubs and players identify any potential issues early.
He said the screening service would be offered onsite at training, or at the clinic.