UK SPORT & EIS DRIVING INJURY AND ILLNESS PREVENTION TO GIVE ATHLETES THE EDGE
UK SPORT & EIS DRIVING INJURY AND ILLNESS PREVENTION TO GIVE ATHLETES THE EDGE
UK SPORT & EIS DRIVING INJURY AND ILLNESS PREVENTION TO GIVE ATHLETES THE EDGE
by Rebecca Lee 21.04.09
According to a study carried out for the first time by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), 10% (average figure) of all athletes participating in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games had to be treated for injury, and in certain sports the risk rose to 15% of all athletes.
Recognition of the importance of injury surveillance is growing on the international stage and the UK Sport research and innovation team along with the English Institute of Sport (EIS) have launched an injury/illness prevention program aimed at the prevention of injuries and illness in high performance sports.
“If the absolute number of athlete injury and illness events can be reduced, whilst minimising the severity and impact of injuries and illnesses when they do occur, it may be possible to limit some of the detrimental effects on training and competition time and, therefore ultimately athlete performance” says EIS Director of Medicine Dr Rod Jaques.
“This could have the potential to increase the number of more competitive and better prepared athletes on the start line for London 2012” he adds.
The illness/injury prevention program is part of UK sport’s R&I medical science program and links the performance knowledge in the EIS and NGB’s to the expertise of Research Scientist Debbie Palmer-Green, from the Centre for Sports Medicine at the University of Nottingham, for the ‘London 2012 Injury/Illness Performance Project’ (LIIPP).
“In order to reduce the number and severity of athlete injury and illness it is important to understand the epidemiology of injury in a given population” explains Palmer-Green. “Once we have established the incidence, nature and severity of injury and illness, possible causal factors and mechanisms that contribute to the injury/illness risk may be identified. It may then be possible to implement informed targeted interventions” she adds.
The aim of the research is to develop and implement a bespoke injury/illness tool for sports to provide accurate and meaningful data to guide prevention initiatives and to objectively monitor their effectiveness.
“There are several benefits of this research for both sports and also support staff working with them” says Glenn Hunter, Research and Innovation Consultant (Medical Services), UK Sport.
“Being able to provide sport specific injury and illness information, to identify trends and provide direction for prevention strategies to athletes, coaches and medical practitioners is our key goal.
"We will be working really hard to ensure that the ‘London 2012 Injury/Illness Performance Project’ (LIIPP) helps to minimise the impact which injury and illness can have on athletes’ training and competition in the run up to the Olympic Games” he adds.
The LIIPP will be the first national injury epidemiological study of its kind and aims to lead the way in high performance injury epidemiology research.
Photograph © SW Pix