Injury prevention programs in athletes take time

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A program of stretching and endurance of three months had only a temporary effect on the prevention of injuries of the knee in soccer players, compared with a nine months' duration.

"Most injury prevention programs last between 10 and 12 weeks. We think that from then, if nothing is done, the player will return to the starting point," said Darin Padua, a professor at the University of North Carolina .

With his team prepared Padua 15 coaches youth soccer leagues for their athletes performed three or nine months for an injury prevention program of warm-up sessions for 15 minutes before each practice.

At the beginning and end of training, the team evaluated the mobility of players with tests such as jumping from a box, down on the floor and jump back. These movements reveal the risk of injury to the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) of the knee.

At the end of training, all athletes performed better on these tests at baseline.

In general, players committed between five and six errors in the motion test before the program and between three and four after the program. Five or more errors indicate a risk of ACL injury.

"The types of errors are very obvious, so that we can change one or two shows that athletes could change much of their biomechanics," said Padua told Reuters Health.

Three months after completing the program, only players who had completed nine months kept the changes.

The team did not determine whether the improvement in performance on tests of movement actually decreased the number of ACL injuries.

But a recent study of youth soccer players and basketball revealed that participants in a prevention program were 44 percent fewer injuries (without contact with another player) players who had not received the same training.

For Gregory Myer, Professor of Medical Center of Cincinnati Children's Hospital, training to prevent injury should be extended, especially in the preseason. "The injury rate increase at the beginning of the season," he said.

Female athletes are more likely to injure the ACL than men, said Myer, who was not involved in the study. The ACL injury increases the likelihood of developing osteoarthritis.

SOURCE: The American Journal of Sports Medicine, online November 7, 2011