Health – Warming to the warmup

The term ‘warm-up’ usually refers to a variety of changes that the body undergoes during exercise, including changes in heart rate, breathing rate, blood flow, body temperature, flexibility – the list goes on.

Many readers will remember a lap of the field followed by a few quick stretches. Ready to go? Sure why not! In fact, on any given weekend even now if you pitch up to a field, turf or court there is a chance you may see exactly this approach in action. However, it does beg the question – with all the other changes, advances and improvements in sport, surely the ageless warmup has also evolved? Well, turns out it has.

When we think of the purpose of a warmup, top of the list is usually an attempt to reduce the risk of injury. That being said, in youth sport perhaps it is simply a strategy to burn some nervous energy in a group of active, bouncy children before they sit down to discuss strategy for the game! 

If the goal truly is to reduce the risk of injury, how does a warmup achieve this?

We now know that the age-old warmup of a simple jog followed by static stretches has almost no decreasing effect on injury risk. A systematic review from 2008 concluded that “there is moderate to strong evidence that routine application of static stretching does not reduce overall injury rates”. Concession is made that perhaps there may be a slight reduction in muscle or tendon injuries – but these only make up a portion of the injuries sustained in sport.

Recent research, however, has been able to demonstrate that a more thorough and tailored warmup actually does reduce injury risk. The now well-established “FIFA-11+” warmup originally developed in football has been shown to reduce lower limb injury rates by up to 50 percent, while simultaneously reducing the severity of any injuries that are sustained.

This concept has been adopted by the ACC Sport Smart campaign which has developed warmup drills for use across a variety of sports including rugby, football and netball. These exercises typically involve dynamic movements such as squats, lunges, running, jumping and changes of direction; while also incorporating static exercises like a plank.

Each of the 15 exercises has a beginner, intermediate and advanced version that can be adapted to suit all levels. There is even a FIFA 11 warmup routine for youth sport that can easily be downloaded and adopted at your local clubs.

As the seasons change and winter sports kick off, check out the warm-up routines and more information at www.sportsphysiotherapy.org.nz or www.accsportsmart.co.nz