Thesis Title: Exploring how to implement a knee injury prevention program for young sports players in the UK: a mixed methods study
Abstract: Common UK school sports that involve sudden change of direction are high-risk for anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries. A recent national database study found that there has been a twenty-nine-fold (2800%) increase in the numbers of ACL reconstructions that have been performed in the UK in children and young people (aged 10-20) over a 20-year period (Nogaro et al. 2020). The burden of ACL injury on young people is considerable, in terms of significant medical, social and psychological costs. There are also important implications for health inequalities, as there has been a surge in female football participation across schools and clubs and females have a higher risk of ACL injury (Maniar 2022).
Injury prevention is the largest modifiable risk factor that has an impact on this problem and an extensive evidence base already exists demonstrating that injury prevention programs in young athletes reduce the chances of sustaining these injuries by 50 to 70% (Huang et al. 2019; Mandelbaum, 2005). Some countries like Australia have sport specific programs, while in other countries they have implemented national programs, for example Skadafri in Norway (www.skadafri.no). Despite the backing of important specialist societies, such as British Orthopaedic Association (BOA), British Society of children’s orthopaedic surgeons (BSCOS), and Federation of Exercise and Sports Medicine (FESM), to date there is no public policy on injury prevention programs in the UK. Indeed, there is limited understanding of what occurs now and what barriers and facilitators may exist to implementing such a program in schools and clubs, which would involve changing both teaching/coaching staff and young peoples’ behaviour.
This research aims to: i) Identify current injury prevention strategies ii) Explore perceived barriers and facilitators to ACL injury prevention implementation
Primary Supervisor: Emma Godfrey