Why is this so important ? 

While sport is great for everybody, it's especially great for kids. Not only is it fun, but it teaches important life skills and experiences. Sports & exercise participation is vital to prevent obesity and keep people active to prevent many diseases.

The downside of all team sports played in Australia is the high rate of knee injury and lower limb injury.  In fact, sports injuries causing admission to hospital are growing at 6% per year in Australia, while injury from other causes like car accidents are dropping by 6% per year.  Sports injuries to children often results in severe disabilities later in life, such as osteoarthritis and knee replacements. Sports injuries and fear of sports injuries are a barrier to participation as well.

The great news is that most of these knee & lower limb injuries from sport are actually preventable.  The big problem is that no-one ever finds this out till they're in the doctor's office with a knee injury. Knee reconstructions are big operations, and while they usually work out pretty well for most injured young athletes, osteoarthritis is inevitable in the future. 

Imagine how much better it would be if you never had the injury in the first place ?

Really simple & inexpensive neuromuscular agility training programs can prevent these severe lower limb injuries in young athletes. Multiple studies from around the world show a prevent 50- 80% reduction in cruciate injuries with these programs. These programs are inexpensive and replace a traditional warm up program with a special neuromuscular exercises delivered via smart phone apps.  

The big problem is a lack of awareness that most lower limb sports injuries are not just bad luck, but actually bad preparation. 

This lecture on the importance and cost benefit of a National Youth Sport Injury Prevention Program was given at the recent Royal Australasian College of Surgeons meeting by Orthopaedic Surgeon, Dr Christopher Vertullo.