Earlier motor control training was linked to fewer football absences
Elite Australian footballers showed changes in targeted muscles and game availability, but the abstract does not quantify the differences.
Based on the published abstract. The full paper may contain additional methods, results and limitations.
The 30-second takeaway
Among elite footballers, earlier motor control training was associated with fewer injury-related absences from competition than later training that season. Targeted back muscles also became larger, and abdominal control improved. The abstract does not quantify these differences or their uncertainty, so the size and reliability of any benefit remain difficult to judge.
This abstract-based account lacks numerical injury results. Game availability was the injury measure, and the elite-athlete population limits relevance to recreational players or people seeking back-pain treatment.
What researchers found
Injury-related game absences
Earlier versus later training within the playing season; effect size and statistical uncertainty were not reported.
How training was delivered
All players were scheduled to receive training, but they began at different times. Training used ultrasound feedback during voluntary contractions of the multifidus and transversus abdominis muscles; Pilates was the activity outside intervention periods.
What the muscle results mean
The reported muscle change involved the multifidus. The abdominal task tested how well players could draw in their abdominal wall; neither result, by itself, demonstrates an improvement in low back pain.
The original publication
Effect of motor control training on muscle size and football games missed from injury.
Hides JA, Stanton WR, Mendis MD et al.
Med Sci Sports Exerc · 2012
- PubMed ID
- 22157811
- Record checked
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