Focus on Youth
Dr. Carolyn Emery, a physiotherapist and associate professor in the Faculty of Kinesiology at the University of Calgary, studies a group of people who have typically not yet visited Dr. Ferber’s clinic: children. She runs numerous sports-specific trials to to look at ways of preventing sport injuries in children. Her goal is reducing the risk of injury and maximizing the benefits of rehabilitation. She is co-chair of the University of Calgary’s Sport Injury Prevention Research Centre, which was identified in 2010 as one of the world’s top four research centres in sport-injury prevention by the International Olympic Committee.
“Our team is unique among these centres in that our focus is youth,” explains Dr. Emery. “Injury prevention in young people makes so much sense. The evidence shows that people who injure the anterior cruciate ligament (a major stabilizing ligament) or meniscus (the disk of cartilage that cushions the joints) in their knees are at very significant risk of developing osteoarthritis 10 to 15 years later. We’ve got to stop thinking about sports injuries in children as inevitable and work to prevent those injuries.”
Dr. Emery recently published results from a randomized controlled trial of 744 youth indoor soccer players in Calgary. There were two groups in the study: a control group who did a standard warm-up commonly used for soccer and a training group who did a warm-up specifically developed for soccer that included muscle strengthening, agility training, and balance training both with the group and individually at home. The training group demonstrated a 38% reduction in all injuries and a 43% reduction in acute-onset injuries (abrupt, specific, and sudden pain that occurs during activity, as opposed to pain or soreness that occurs in the days after activity).
“While we were happy with these results, you could argue that there should have been more than a 38% reduction in injury,” notes Dr. Emery. “Adherence to the program, particularly the home-based component, was an issue. To follow up, we’re examining a unique implementation strategy to improve adherence.” The Sport Injury Prevention Research Centre has also produced a video of the program, which will be available to the public in summer 2010.
Ph.D. student Sarah Richmond has examined the protective effect of a modified warm-up and training program that could be added to the physical education curriculum in junior high schools. Results from a pilot study of the program in Calgary showed a threefold reduction in injury as well as an improvement in aerobic fitness. “We’re looking for healthy outcomes—injury prevention and obesity prevention,” adds Dr. Emery. “We feel this type of program could have huge application in a more general context.”
The Sport Injury Prevention Research Centre
The University of Calgary’s Sport Injury Prevention Research Centre develops and evaluates strategies to prevent sport injuries using expertise from a variety of scientific disciplines including epidemiology, biostatistics, orthopaedic surgery, sport medicine, physical therapy, athletic therapy, health economics, health psychology, sociology, biomechanics, mechanical engineering, and bone and joint health science.
Source: Sport Injury Prevention Research Centre