In New Zealand, the implementation of ‘The 11’ resulted in a NZ$8.2 per invested dollar return on investment for the national accident insurance company after 7 years 1. Four years after the launch of the programme, teams that included ‘The 11’ as a part of their warm-up had 11.5% fewer match injuries and 25.3% fewer training injuries than teams that warmed-up as usual 5. In Switzerland, the implementation of ‘The 11’ and its effect on the injury rates were evaluated by an independent research institute. ‘The 11’ was implemented in two country-wide campaigns (Switzerland and New Zealand) in co-operation with the respective national accident insurance company and the national football association 1. It can be completed in 10 to 15 minutes and requires no equipment other than a ball.
The programme was designed to reduce the most common football injuries (ankle and knee sprains, hamstring and groin strains). ‘The 11’ comprised 10 evidence-based or best-practice exercises (core stability, balance, dynamic stabilisation and eccentric hamstring strength) and the promotion of fair play. Based on the experiences of this pilot study and in co-operation with international experts, F-MARC developed a simple injury prevention programme for amateur football players called ‘The 11’ in 2003. The prevention programme included general interventions such as improvement of warm-up, regular cool-down, taping of unstable ankles, adequate rehabilitation, promotion of the spirit of fair play and 10 sets of exercises designed to improve co-ordination, stability of the ankle and knee, flexibility and strength of the trunk, hip and leg muscles. The interventions were focused on improving the structure and content of training, by educating and supervising the coaches and players. In 2000, F-MARC conducted its first study on the prevention of football injury in male Swiss youth teams, showing 21% fewer injuries in the intervention compared to the control group 4. For about 20 years, no other author followed on the prevention of football injuries in general and only very few studies on the prevention of recurrent ankle sprains and/or severe knee injuries were published. The first scientific study on injury prevention in football was Jan Ekstrand’s thesis published in the 1980s 3.
This paper presents the theoretical background, the development, scientific evaluation, implementation and dissemination strategies of FIFA’s injury prevention programme (‘FIFA 11+’) in order to provide a model of how an international sports governing body can make its sport safer.ĭEVELOPMENT OF INJURY PREVENTION PROGRAMMES In 1994, FIFA founded its Medical Assessment and Research Centre (F-MARC) to create and disseminate scientific knowledge on various medical topics in football, to reduce football injuries and thus to promote football as a health-enhancing leisure activity 2. The medical treatment of football related injuries can have a significant socio-economic impact in terms of related healthcare costs 1. While football can be considered a healthy leisure activity, as a contact team sport, it also entails a certain risk of injury. – Written by Mario Bizzini, Switzerland, Matthias Eiles, Germany, Mark Fulcher, New Zealand, Zohreh Haratian, Iran and Jiri Dvorak, Switzerlandįootball is the most popular sport in the world and is played at an amateur or recreational level by almost 300 million people. Injury prevention in football and the Fifa 11+Ī model for international sports federations?
0 kommentar(er)
