Don’t you hate it when you’re cheering your sports team on (I assume most people like me support the St George Illawarra Dragons) and you’re watching your favourite player carving everyone up (doesn’t happen a lot if you support the Dragons) and all of a sudden, they’ve hurt themselves. You watch your team’s season go up in flames, they’re rolling around on the ground in pain, the team doctor and physio take them off and your team gets flogged (it’s a Dragons thing). Wouldn’t it be better if nobody got injured?

Big sporting clubs all over the world have invested millions of dollars to try and achieve just that – no more injuries. They pour astronomical amounts into research to try and prevent injuries where possible; the professional players are paid so much that reducing injuries can improve their bottom line by insane amounts. Let’s take Manchester City’s highest paid player: Kevin De Bruyne. Kevin’s annual salary is nearly $37,000,000 Australian Dollars. This means his weekly wage is approximately $700,000. Kevin misses 2 weeks for a sprained ankle, and he costs the club $1.4 Million to sit on the sidelines!
Physiotherapists have traditionally been the people fixing injuries but we now have the ability to try and prevent them. It’s the old “dentist can’t officially recommend certain toothpaste because it would put them out of a job” trick. Most sporting organisations in Australia have adopted their own version of an injury prevention strategy.
Netball Australia has the ‘KNEE Program’, Football Australia has the ‘FIFA 11+’ program and there are countless others across the country - all with great evidence to say they are likely to reduce knee injuries!
Physique has been lucky enough to work with the vast majority of sporting clubs on Tamborine Mountain to implement these strategies with good success. We will be working again with the clubs to reiterate these strategies and try to reduce injuries for the upcoming seasons. Unfortunately they’re not 100% foolproof and as always, people will get injuries.
My top strategies for avoiding injuries are as follows:
Don’t Ignore the Niggles: Playing sport comes with aches and pains following games if you’re playing hard and exerting yourself. However if you have ongoing soreness that isn’t improving it’s very important to get it seen to as it may be the start of something more significant and can be stopped with appropriate management!
Tape/Brace: Professional athletes in Australia are generally strapped before every game and training session for a reason – it is effective at reducing injuries! Taping is particularly effective in reducing ankle, knee and shoulder injuries. Correct taping is important so you need guidance, and expert advice is necessary.
Train Hard: It’s important to train like you play and play like you train to best prepare yourself for the games. Most injuries happen within games and are freak accidents – expert advice generally tells us that the best way to avoid injuries this way is to expose your body to these loads a lot so you know how to deal with it when it happens.
Good luck to everyone who will be beginning their sporting seasons soon – play well and most importantly, have some fun! If you would like advice on how best to avoid injury don’t hesitate to give Physique a call for expert advice.
Hayden Buckman