A £3 million research centre has been launched by Arthritis Research UK that will focus on the impact of sports injuries.
Led by Nottingham University Hospitals and the universities of Nottingham and Oxford, the Arthritis Research UK Centre for Sport, Exercise and Osteoarthritis will for the first time combine the expertise of sports medicine and osteoarthritis specialists from across Europe as they try to understand why some sports injuries go on to develop into osteoarthritis, and if the degeneration of joints can be prevented or slowed down.
Centre director Professor Mark Batt, consultant in sport and exercise medicine at Nottingham University Hospitals, said: “Regular exercise is vital to keep your joints healthy and the long-term benefits of exercise far outweigh the risk of injury.
“Our centre aims to keep people of all sporting abilities active and injury-free by developing definitive, evidence-based advice and information to minimise the consequence of injury and recommend effective treatments to reduce long-term damage.”
One of its focuses will be on checking young footballers aged nine and over from a number of professional football academies, every two years, using an MRI scanner to compare them against ordinary schoolboys and also young elite athletes from other sports.
This is because young footballers are at particular risk from a potentially career-ending groin injury called femoroacetabular impingement (FAI), in which the head of the thigh bone rubs against the socket, leading to intermittent groin or hip pain in the short term, and potentially osteoarthritis of the hip in the longer term.
The MRI scans will pick up holes or cracks in cartilage and metabolic changes to cartilage and bone, so training movements could be modified or avoided to prevent injury occurring.
The researchers will also design “pre-habilitation” training programmes that are aimed at reducing the number of injuries that professional footballers pick up. These will include improving training and warm-ups to reduce pulled muscles and tendons, ensuring that players use their muscles correctly and don’t overload their joints during matches and in training.
The research aims to bolster current FIFA (F-Marc: Football for health) and 11-plus guidelines on warming-up.
Rickie Lambert, the Southampton FC striker who has experienced hip pain but has managed it successfully through exercise, supports the new centre.
He said: “Hip pain is one of the most common injuries amongst footballers, and lots of players have to retire early if they don’t get the correct treatment.
“Making sure young footballers get the right treatment in their teens is massively important and will improve their chances of succeeding in the game.”
Gary Lewin, permanent first-team physiotherapist for the England national football team added: "Physiotherapists recommend regular physical activity to maintain good general health. It is therefore encouraging to see this investment in research to better understand the nature and impact of common sporting injuries”.
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