"The rate of injury was not only lower among teams participating in the preventive program but the injuries that did occur were also less severe," the authors write. All three injuries in the intervention group were categorized as major, but all three players regained full activity within six months. Among the control participants, most injuries were severe, and only four of the 13 regained full activity within six months.

Coaches reported their teams' adherence to the program at two time periods, after the preseason training period and after the competitive season. Of the 48 teams participating in the intervention, 45 (94 percent) reported a high adherence of at least 75 percent. "The high compliance rate in this study suggests that the program is easy to implement and incorporate into regular soccer practice," the authors conclude.(Arch Intern Med. 2010;170[1]:43-49. Available pre-embargo to the media at www.jamamedia.org.)

Editor's Note: This study was supported by Folksam, the Uppsala County Council, the Swedish Athletic Institute of Education in Uppland, the Uppland Football Association, the Dalarna Football Association and the Department of Research and Development, Uppsala Primary Care, Uppsala County Council. Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, financial disclosures, funding and support, etc.

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Editorial: Findings Score a Goal for Prevention

"Physical activity represents a key strategy for stemming the epidemics of obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus," write Mitchell H. Katz, M.D., of the San Francisco Department of Public Health, and Rita F. Redberg, M.D., M.Sc., of the University of California, San Francisco, and editor of the Archives, in an accompanying editorial. "Team sports are a particularly good way to promote activity and its health benefits because teams create an environment that is fun and sociable."

"Unfortunately, competitive sports can also produce injuries. In the United States, an estimated 1.4 million injuries occur annually as a result of participation in high school sports alone."

"The use of an interdisciplinary team to develop an intervention (with parents and coaches promoting healthful behaviors and players performing exercises that stretch and strengthen muscles while promoting balance) is likely to be successful not only in preventing other soccer-related injuries but also in preventing injuries in other competitive sports such as football, basketball and tennis," they write. "While improvements in both diagnosis and treatment for sports injuries have been impressive in recent years, Kiani and co-authors present a simple, inexpensive routine to avoid injuries in the first place."(Arch Intern Med. 2010;170[1]:10-11. Available pre-embargo to the media at www.jamamedia.org.)

Editor's Note: Please see the article for additional information, including other author contributions and affiliations, financial disclosures, funding and support, etc.

Source-Eurekalert
RAS