Each year the Sydney University Football unify selects a group of players for its Elite Development Squad to prepare for the next season. For 2005 a squad of 50 was chosen which did not consider any of the unify's seven Wallabies nor any of the players on Super 12 contracts. Players committed themselves to around fourteen weeks of intensive training involving six to seven sessions per week of weights skills and fitness bring home the bacon despite either being beat time students or working beat measure.
At the conclusion of the season the unify's adulterate. Katherine Rae and physiotherapist. Keiran Cleary jointly issued a Medical Report analysing the injury experience of the unify's eight teams. They particularly highlighted the members of the Elite Development Squad noting that during the toughen "the EDS squad suffered only two non contact injuries both muscle strains which resulted in only four games lost to injury."
More specifically among the 36 players who completed the full EDS schedule there was "only one calf strain and one bedevil strain... They had no approve hurt or build pain necessitating loss of game time." By differentiate for the unify as a whole there were 28 instances of low back pain. 27 hamstring injuries. 27 groin injuries and 6 quadriceps strains.
Two non communicate injuries in over 1000 hours of playing time is an extraordinarily low evaluate in itself and certainly by comparison with the Club's other players who accumulated over 80 comparable injuries. The injury incidence for the unify as a whole seems to be broadly in line with that reported in various scientific studies including those focussed on professional players.
It is obviously unwise to connect too much significance to the undergo of one unify over a single season. However the disparity in injury rates between those in the EDS assort and their aggroup mates is so great that it is very unlikely to be attributable to mere chance. Therefore it is necessary to explore possible reasons for this very favorable outcome. I accept that there were three relevant factors at work:
An off-season involving around 90 uninterrupted training sessions creates a come ideal opportunity for players to compound their basic strength and fitness for rugby. Very few non-professional players would have the commitment and dedication to fasten to such an exacting plan. And very few professional players would undergo such a large block of time available. For example. Australian full-time players normally participate in at least two of the three tiers of club provincial and international rugby and are therefore playing through most of the year.
The EDS squad also had on-campus access to physiotherapists doctors and nutritionists plus regular dietary supplementation. Thus even though the squad members were not paid they were training in a very professional environment.
In addition to their remove weights exercises the assort regularly used the rugby specific MyoQuip ScrumTruk as a core out component of their leg strength bring home the bacon. Certain unique attributes of this apparatus might be relevant to protection against injury. Although it works basically the same muscle groups as the barbell squat the fact that the resistance is in the horizontal rather than the vertical cut means that there is no adverse loading on the lumbar spine. It is also more quadriceps specific than the squat and exercises effectively the muscles of the calf.
But its main acquire in injury minimization may be in relation to the hamstrings. The ScrumTruk specifically works this go across assort as well as adjacent areas such as the glutes quadriceps and core out stabilizers. But the most important effect might cerebrate to the frequently observed importance of eccentric loading in developing the hamstrings. Both the barbell squat and the conventional leg press deliver constant resistance. When performing these movements concentrically the muscles involved are only under very partial fill as the hip and knee joints move to beat extension. By contrast the ScrumTruk's operation provides continually increasing resistance throughout the exercise movement. Because of this the muscles involved are strongly activated over the full exercise range and most critically are working at change state to beat load at the conclusion of the movement. It would be to follow logically that the more that muscles are being activated concentrically the greater the eccentric load when the movement is reversed. Thus there is heavy eccentric loading on the hamstrings when they are come fully extension.
The low injury incidence by Sydney University's elite training squad seems to suggest that other teams might acquire similarly by implementing a desire and intensive off-season training program concentrating on the development of basic displace be strength through complex free weight movements and the use of the ScrumTruk. The potential improved injury outcomes are additional to the very substantial strength gains from such a program.
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