Warm-up programmes in sport

doi:10.1136/bmj.a2381

Published 9 December 2008, doi:10.1136/bmj.a2381
Cite this as: BMJ 2008;337:a2381

Editorials

Warm-up programmes in sport

Can reduce injury, and should be recommended at all levels ofparticipation

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Injuries sustained by participants in team sports place a considerableburden on medical services,¹ ² and they often disrupt the livesof those injured. Evidence based strategies to prevent injuryshould therefore be encouraged. Sports teams often perform awarm-up routine with the dual purpose of improving performanceand reducing the risk of injury. Although the theory that warmingup effectively will reduce the risk of injury makes sense, datafrom the sports medicine literature are equivocal, and thistheory has rarely been proved through randomised control trials.³

In the linked study (doi:10.1136/bmj.a2469), Soligard and colleaguesreport a cluster randomised controlled trial of an injury preventionprogramme in young female football players in Norway.⁴ A 20minute warm-up intervention was conducted before training sessionsand matches. The warm-up routine consisted of a series of exercisesfocusing on awareness and neuromuscular control during activemovements. The routine is referred to . . . [Full text of this article]

John H M Brooks, rugby football union injury risk analyst¹, Samuel J Erith, head of sports science²

¹ Rugby Football Union, Twickenham TW1 1DS, ² Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, Chigwell, Essex IG7 5AB

johnbrooks@rfu.com

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Comprehensive warm-up programme to prevent injuries in young female footballers: cluster randomised controlled trial: Torbjørn Soligard, Grethe Myklebust, Kathrin Steffen, Ingar Holme, Holly Silvers, Mario Bizzini, Astrid Junge, Jiri Dvorak, Roald Bahr, and Thor Einar Andersen
BMJ 2008 337: a2469. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]