A warm-up program developed specially for children reduces soccer injuries by around 50 percent. Sports scientists from the University of Basel reported these findings in the academic journal Sports Medicine. A total of 243 teams comprising around 3,900 children from four European countries took part in the study.
The characteristics of soccer injuries in children differ from those seen in young people and adults. “For example, children are more likely to suffer broken bones or injuries to the upper extremities,” says sports scientist Dr. Oliver Faude from the University of Basel. Until now, however, epidemiological data on soccer injuries in this age group has been scarce.
Warm-up for young soccer players
Based on studies into the characteristics of soccer injuries in children carried out by Dr. Roland Rössler from the University of Basel’s Department of Sport, Exercise and Health, an international team of experts developed a 20-minute warm-up. The programme “11 + Kids” comprises seven warm-up exercises to be performed at the start of the children’s regular soccer training sessions.
Under the leadership of Oliver Faude and Roland Rössler, an international research group has now scientifically tested the warm-up programme for children’s soccer for the first time. A total of 3,895 players between the ages of 7 and 13 from Switzerland, Germany, Czechia and the Netherlands took part in the large-scale study.
Many injuries can be prevented
While the control group went about their training as normal, the intervention group warmed up regularly with the special “11 + Kids” programme. After one soccer season, the injury rate of the team that followed the program was 48 percent lower than the control group, while the rate of severe injury fell by as much as 74 percent.
The results of the FIFA-backed study show that an appropriate warm-up program can help prevent a large percentage of injuries provided it is performed at least once, and preferably twice, per week.
###
Original source
Roland Rössler, Astrid Junge, Mario Bizzini, Evert Verhagen, Jiri Chomiak, Karen aus der Fünten, Tim Meyer, Jiri Dvorak, Eric Lichtenstein, Florian Beaudouin, Oliver Faude
A Multinational Cluster Randomised Controlled Trial to Assess the Efficacy of ’11+ Kids’: A Warm-Up Programme to Prevent Injuries in Children’s Football Sports Medicine (2017), doi: 10.1007/s40279-017-0834-8
more recommended stories
Childhood connection to nature has many benefits but is not universally positiveA review finds a connection to.
Expand school digital literacy lessons to cover health technologies used by young peopleYoung people are accessing digital health.
Children who have difficult relationships with their mothers are clingy towards teachersUSA based researchers found that these.
Getting children to eat their greens? Both parents need to set an exampleA positive example set by both.
Love matters: How parents’ love shapes children’s livesParents often put their own relationship.
Sitting still linked to increased risk of depression in adolescentsYoung people who are inactive for.
Short, intensive training improves children’s healthShort periods of intensive training motivates.
Children’s mental health is effected by sleep durationImportant associations identified between sleep duration.
Brain networks come ‘online’ during adolescence to prepare teenagers for adult lifeHow different regions of the brain.
Study shows why women have to be likeable, and men don’tFor women, likeability is an asset.
Leave a Comment