Teaching landing skills in elite junior Australian football: Evaluation of an injury prevention strategy

Ebonie Scase ¹, Jill Cook ^1*, Michael Makdissi ², Belinda Gabbe ³ and Lisa Shuck ⁴

¹ La Trobe University, Australia
² University of Melbourne, Australia
³ Monash University, Australia
⁴ Deakin University, Australia

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: j.cook{at}latrobe.edu.au.

Accepted 20 July 2006

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of a preseason physical training program that taught landing and falling skills in improving landing skills technique and preventing injury in junior elite Australian football players.

Methods: Seven hundred and twenty three male players who participated in an under 18 elite competition were studied prospectively in a non-randomised controlled trial over two consecutive football seasons. There were 114 players in the intervention group and 609 control players. The eight session intervention program taught players six landing, falling and recovery skills, which were considered fundamental for safe landing in Australian football. Landing skills taught in these sessions were rated for competence by independent and blinded assessors at baseline and mid-season.

Results: Evaluation of landing skills found no significant differences between the groups at baseline. Post-intervention evaluation revealed overall improvement in landing skills, but significantly greater improvement in the intervention group (z=-7.92, p=.001,). Players in the intervention group were significantly less likely (RR 0.72, 95% CI: 0.52, 0.98) to sustain an injury during the season compared to the control group. In particular, the time to sustaining a landing injury was significantly less for the intervention group (RR 0.40, 95% CI: 0.17, 0.92) compared to the control group.

Conclusions: This study found that landing and falling ability can be trained in junior elite Australian football players and that intervention players were protected against injury, particularly injuries related to landing and falls.

Key Words: Australian football, Sports injury prevention, landing

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• Romiti, M, Finch, C F, Gabbe, B (2008). A prospective cohort study of the incidence of injuries among junior Australian football players: evidence for an effect of playing-age level. Br. J. Sports. Med. 42: 441-446 [Abstract] [Full Text]