Osteoarthritis prevention starts young
Avoiding knee injuries key
 
Lorrayne Anthony, Canadian Press

September 11, 2006:-   Proper training for children playing soccer will help reduce injuries.
 
Preventing a budding Beckham or Ronaldo from getting a knee injury on the soccer field now could save them some grief in adulthood.

"A single knee injury as a teenager or a young adult can triple the risk of osteoarthritis in the knee by middle age," says Dr. Cy Frank, scientific director at the Institute of Musculoskeletal Health and Arthritis of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

"The idea of better training methods would decrease the number of injuries," he said from his Calgary office. "Knee-injury prevention alone could reduce osteoarthritis of the knee by at least 20 per cent."

The institute is funding the development and testing of an osteoarthritis-prevention program, which will follow teams of soccer-playing youth in the Lower Mainland. This will allow scientists to learn if a more rigorous warm-up and strengthening exercises will cut down on injuries during the season and knee-replacement surgeries in the future.

Dr. John Esdaile, scientific director of the Arthritis Research Centre of Canada in Vancouver, is leading a team of researchers who are trying to implement the program with the help of the B.C. Soccer Association.

"Eventually we hope to actually demonstrate, over a longer period, that we've not only reduced the injuries but we've actually reduced the very early phase of osteoarthritis," he said.

Will Aldridge, a 36-year-old Toronto real-estate analyst, has been playing soccer since he was five.

"And yes, my body feels the effects of it," he said in an interview immediately following a session with his massage therapist.

"Anybody playing soccer will have seen an injury at some point . . . I've experienced almost everything . . . I've fractured ribs, I've thrown my back out of alignment on a number of occasions, I've pulled muscles everywhere," he said, acknowledging that soccer as well as a family history of arthritis could mean the disease will be part of his future.

Instead of simply running around the field and then playing soccer, Esdaile thinks a proper warm-up and working on strengthening leg muscles, such as the hamstrings and quadriceps, will help. But the research team also wants coaches to teach drills that focus on proper landing and turning techniques and to know when the time is right to get the player back on the field after an injury.

Esdaile's team is collaborating with researchers at Harvard University who have done work with basketball players showing that warm-ups and drills tend to reduce the injury rates.

Osteoarthritis is caused by the breakdown of cartilage -- the tough elastic material that covers and protects the ends of bones. Bits of cartilage may break off and cause pain and swelling in the joint between bones. Over time, the cartilage may wear away entirely, and the bones will rub together. Osteoarthritis usually affects hips, knees, hands and spine. It is the most common type of arthritis.

While injuries are simply part of the sport, he says warming up is increasingly important.

Lorraine Hendry, a physiotherapist at the University of Ottawa Sports Medicine and Physiotherapy Centre, says many kids' teams don't warm up, even though 15 minutes of stretching before a game would be beneficial.

"If someone is stronger and more flexible, then they are going to be less likely to injure themselves and they are going to rehabilitate after much more quickly then someone who is not in shape," says Hendry.

"It's all about prevention."

© The Vancouver Province 2006