Torbjørn Soligard, Grethe Myklebust, Kathrin Steffen, Ingar Holme, Holly Silvers, Mario Bizzini, Astrid Junge, Jiri Dvorak, Roald Bahr, Thor Einar Andersen. 

The aim of the study was to examine the effect of a comprehensive warm-up programme designed to reduce the risk of injuries in female youth football.

125 football clubs from Norway (65 clusters in the intervention group; 60 in the control group) were followed for one league season. This totalled 1892 female players aged 13-17 (1055 players in the intervention group; 837 players in the control group).

The intervention group were given a comprehensive warm-up programme to improve strength, awareness, and neuromuscular control during static and dynamic movements. Results were measured by injuries to the lower extremity (foot, ankle, lower leg, knee, thigh, groin, and hip).

The results demonstrated that 264 players had relevant injuries: 121 players in the intervention group and 143 in the control group. In the intervention group there was a significantly lower risk of injuries overall, overuse injuries, and severe injuries.

The authors concluded that although reduction in lower extremity injuries did not reach significance, the risk of severe injuries, overuse injuries, and injuries overall was reduced. This indicates that a structured warm-up programme can prevent injuries in young female football players.

BMJ 2008;337:a2469

R T H Cheung, G Y F Ng

Delayed onset of the vastus medialis obliquus (VMO) has often been linked with patellofemoral pain (PFP). Research has also suggested that lower leg movements play a role in patella tracking. Studies have also revealed that a motion control shoe could reduce rearfoot pronation in overpronators.  Using all of this information, the authors hypothesised that motion control shoes may help prevent PFP by controlling excessivepronation. This study compares the vasti muscle activities in people with excessive foot pronation when runningwith different trainers.

Twenty female subjects with rearfoot pronation >6° were selected. Testing involved treadmill running for 10 km on two separate days. The subjects wore a motion-control running shoe on one day and a neutral running shoe on the other. EMG activity of their right VMO and vastus lateralis (VL) were recorded. Their EMG onset timing and median frequency (MF) were compared between the two shoe conditions.

A more significant delay in VMO contraction onset of the running cycle occurred in the neutral shoe than in the motion control shoe. In the neutral shoe, the delay in VMO increased as mileage increased. This did not happen in the motion control shoe. A significant drop in MF of the quadriceps after the 10 km run in both shoes  was observed, and there was a larger drop in VMO MF when running with the neutral shoe. The findings suggest that the motion control shoe may facilitate a stable temporal activation of VMO during running.

British Journal of Sports Medicine 2009;43:943-947