Injury Risk of Sport & Fitness

Sport and Fitness have never been closer..................... like two best mates!

Functional training is very on trend currently and many of these types of training methods stem from elite sport. Take plyometrics for example, (large boxes that you jump up on to and down off to train muscles to move from extension to contraction in quick and explosive manner), this is very popular at the moment in health and fitness clubs up and down the land, yet was first practiced by the Russian elite sports men and women of the early 1980's.

These two best buddies, sport and fitness, have some really great industry 'best practices' when it comes to looking after the enthusiastic members of the public and, there are some improvements that need to take place.

If you join a gym, you are likely to fill in a form detailing your current physical condition, any illnesses or injuries you may have, your blood pressure may be assessed. You most certainly will undergo an induction on how to use the equipment and you may seek a specific programme to help you "attain your goals". So far so good.

Unfortunately if you start undertaking any functional training or, heaven forbid, plyometrics, you may be at risk from a repetitive strain injury (RSI) due to the type of floor you train on. Currently there is no industry regulation for functional floors, free spaces or even aerobic studios. In both outdoor and indoor sport there is!

Popping off to the local sports centre for a game of 5-a-side football with my middle aged mates on a Monday evening nearly killed me. There were no questionnaires, supervision or blood pressure assessments here. What they did provide was a suitably compliant floor that meets EU guidelines for safety including % force reduction which helps reduce the risk of RSI's. If I did collapse from cardiac arrest, at least I wouldn't injure myself from the fall.

Surely sport at a local level can take some of the pre work out practices the health and fitness industry employ and introduce them and likewise, shouldn't the leading providers of fitness be setting minimum safety standards in functional flooring to protect their customers? I remember being told about a Nautilus study years ago that recorded "the biggest reason given by Americans for not exercising was the discomfort caused by exercising".

Next time .........One in five men break a bone in the UK and for women it is even worse, one in two. What are we doing about it?