According to a Finnish research a neuromuscular training programme was effective in preventing acute non-contact injuries of the legs in female floorball players.

The research was made in the UKK Institute for Health Promotion Research and the fresh research is published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine (10/2008). The researcher, Kati Pasanen, was in charge of the research in which 28 women´s top level floorball teams participated. Half of the players were randomly selected to the intervention group for six months and the rest were in the control group.

The intervention group team exercised running technique, balance and body control, plyometrics and strength during the warm up sessions. The programme was designed to enhance players´ motor skills and body control as well as to activate and prepare the neuromuscular system for sports specific manoeuvres. The main point of each exercise was to focus on proper technique such as good posture, neutral zoning of lumbar spine, core stability, and positioning of the hip and knee, especially “knee-over-toe”.

The result was that during the season, 72 acute non-contact leg injuries occurred, 20 in the intervention group and 52 in the control group. The injury incidence per 1000 hours playing and practice in the intervention group was 0.65 and in the control group was 2.08. The risk of non-contact leg injury was 66% lower in the intervention group.

Correspondence to: Kati Pasanen kati.pasanen@uta.fi

The research is found in the British Journal of Sports Medicine