Does anyone have a set criteria or recognised format for screening footballers (or rugby, hockey, netball players even) for possible injuries?
And if so, what action, if any, do you take if you feel a player is predisposed to possible injury?
I have been asked to do some screening for local clubs, but it is not something I have experience with and would appreciate some guidance/advice.
I apologise if this has been covered in the past, I'm relatively new to Podiatry Arena.
Most of the injuries that occur among players at my rugby club occur as a result of single traumatic events and as such would be near impossible to predict. The others
are more to do with training errors than biomechanics per se. The remainder are ongoing battle scars- ask them about previous injuries!!!!
Look for prevalence studies of injuries among the specific sport- this may help.
If I were you, I'd do what you would do with any patient: a good history and physical. Depends how much time you've got as to what you include in your physical. You do need to understand the sport in question to better direct you questioning/ physical. For example, in rugby the physical demands on a prop are different to those of a full back. If you understand this you can start to think about the tissues that may be predisposed to higher stresses in certain individuals dependent upon their position, then look at how their biomechanics may add to this. Kevin Kirby did a nice paper some years ago on "runner patient history, what to ask and why". You could probably use this as a template and modify it to the sport in question.
Hope this helps.
Ask him nicely and I'm sure he'll send it to you.;) Knowing Kevin he'll read this when he finishes work and if he has the time this evening he'll send it to you- your chances of this will be increased if you leave your e-mail address at the bottom of your next post.
I wrote this one when I was 25 years old, in my third year of podiatry school.
This was my first paper that I had published in a peer-reviewed journal.