Researchers at the University of Calgary have found that neuromuscular training warm-up programs can prevent injury in young athletes and say the findings could save millions in health care costs.
Sports account for more than 30 percent of all injuries in young athletes and experts say that number can be reduced with a youth neuromuscular training strategy.
"Injuries in youth sport and recreation are a significant public burden in Alberta," said the paper's senior author Carolyn Emery, PhD, of the Faculty of Kinesiology. "There is the immediate impact of injury preventing youth from participating in the sport which they love and they are at risk of re-injury and long-term consequences of injury including early osteoarthritis, weight gain and depression."
The research studied male and female soccer players between the ages of 13 and 18 to study the cost-effectiveness of this type of injury prevention program and looked at both the reduction in burden of injuries and the reduction in costs.
One group took part in a neuromuscular training warm-up program and the exercises included aerobic, strength, agility, and balance components, and a home-based balance training routine.
The other group participated in a standard of practice warm-up routine that included aerobic and stretching components.
"We found that the neuromuscular training prevention group had a 38 per cent reduction in injury rate, and at the same time, health care costs were reduced by 43 per cent. Projecting the results provincially, implementing a neuromuscular training prevention program would save $2.7 million in one season of soccer," said the lead author Deborah Marshall, PhD, of the Cumming School of Medicine.
The analysis looked at costs calculated from Alberta Health Services Calgary Zone and included health care professionals, specific treatments, services quantities of supplies, and equipment, for instance surgery, X-rays, scans and casts and fees for physiotherapy, athletic and massage therapy, chiropractic, splints, braces, crutches and tensors.
"We have the solution to reduce the burden of injury in youth sport and we need to get on with it. Engaging sport associations, coaches, teachers and players to implement neuromuscular training warm-up programs in youth sport across the country will have a significant impact globally," said Emery.
They are now working to determine the best way to roll out the programs and say the goal of the study is to reduce the risk of injury in youth sport and recreation by 20 percent by 2020.
The study was published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine
