Isokinetic, London’s leading clinic for injury prevention, treatment and rehabilitation is to expand its dedicated programme specialising in the prevention and treatment of ACL and other injuries in women athletes.
The move comes amid release of a major new peer-reviewed study in the journal of Knee Surgery, Sports Traumatology and Arthroscopy (May 2023) co-authored by Jan Ekstrand, Linkoping University, Sweden, the Football Research Group, Sweden, and Isokinetic Medical Group, London. The research looked specifically at hamstring injuries in professional female footballers across Europe. It measured twenty-one different risk factors over the 2020/2021 season. It concludes that “most risk factors for hamstring injuries are extrinsic in nature and associated with the club, the team, and the coaching staff, and not the players themselves.”
The report cites; lack of regular exposure to high-speed football actions during training; playing matches 2 to 3 times per week; load on players; and lack of communication between medical staff and coaching staff.
Dr Jesus Olmo, Isokinetic Sports Doctor and Former Real Madrid CF Medical Director, said; “It is essential that as women compete in football in highly competitive and elite levels that we provide an infrastructure that is going to support them. We believe that prevention is key and it is crucial to assess players before they experience injury to better understand their unique movement patterns and strategize optimised ways of movement that will keep the individual healthy for longer. We are excited to bring globally recognised and technology advanced medical pathways to women athletes in the UK and Europe.”
Dr Matthew Stride, Isokinetic Sports Doctor and former Club Doctor, Brentford FC, said; “We need to protect our players! There are significant cultural, developmental and biomechanical differences in women’s football however this research is showing that the main contributing factor in women’s injury in elite sport is dependent on club and coaching staff and not on any factors around the player themselves. We’ve got a big job to do in raising the expectations of conditioning and protection of women players. They deserve better and we hope that this new dedicated programme can provide the support, foresight and protection that they need.”
Andrea Tartaglia, Managing Director, Isokinetic London, said; “Every day we diagnose and treat people from many different clubs and countries. As a FIFA Medical Centre of Excellence, we see a different range of players, from recreational to professionals. Compared to an individual club we see a much larger number of injuries. And, much more as the whole Isokinetic Medical Group network. This important volumes of patients allow to further develop aa greater specialised expertise at the service of players and patients.”
The women’s injury programme is based in a technologically advanced, doctor-led environment. Each patient journey starts with a doctor-led pathway beginning with a consultation with an expert sport science doctor who oversees ongoing treatment. The programme includes:
- Analysis with a doctor in the clinic’s biomechanical lab (Green Room) measures of neuromuscular control by understanding each player’s movement patterns with the Movement Analysis Test (MAT test)
- Targeted Neuromotor training in the Green Room with augmented and real-time feedback on video-walls to optimize movements and neuromuscular control. Everything before challenging the players in further testing to monitor the improvement.
- Additional tests include Threshold test and the Isokinetic test, to check the resistance to fatigue and the muscle strength
- GPS tracking technology as a preventive measure to constantly track workloads throughout the entire competitive season and to have real data available, processed by a single device. This allows doctors to understand the work done by each athlete day after day, to better prepare of a personalized program based on her requirements. This technology can positively influence the prevention of injuries associated with overtraining because it provides more training data in a scientific way
- Treatment and technology are housed in an extensively equipped five-storey Harley Street facility with hydrotherapy pool, treatment rooms and gym
- The team rehabilitation mirrors a club environment providing a powerful mindset and mental health benefits to people with injury where patients will exercise with other professional athletes, ballerinas, rugby players and runners in a high-energy positive environment
Isokinetic believes that exercise is medicine, treating the whole person in a unique environment to optimise healing and positive change. Trusted by FIFA as a global Centre of Excellence, Isokinetic are organisers of the world’s most renowned Isokinetic Football Conference (27th – 29th May 2023). Isokinetic London has been at the heart of London’s Harley Street area for a decade and comes out of a 35-year heritage to offer prevention, diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation of sports and orthopaedics injuries. The unique pathway is meticulously tailored to patient recovery. From welcome reception, appointment making, and treatment, everything is geared to the individual patient whether treating an elite athlete preparing for competition or a person experiencing a degenerative condition like osteoarthritis.
For further information about Isokinetic London please visit: https://isokinetic.com/ or follow us on: https://www.instagram.com/isokinetic_officialpage
