Remain in the Game: A Joint Effort
Download the NEW Remain in the Game Mobile App – Available on Apple and Android devices for FREE download!
Keep your players in the game with just 10 minutes of strength and flexibility training at every practice.
With Remain in the Game: A Joint Effort get step-by-step videos tailored to keep your players healthy by avoiding sports injury and letting them have more time on the field.
The videos in the Remain in the Game: A Joint Effort series are developed by physical therapists and athletic trainers, tested by coaches and demonstrated by players to keep your team in the game. Coaches can use the sample ‘routines’ as a guide to get started with a well-rounded training program today. Or the exercises can be combined in any manner you choose to create a custom playlist targeted to your team’s specific needs; just make sure at least one exercise from each category is a part of the routine.
Why Injury Prevention:
It’s time to translate the evidence of injury prevention into practice. Sports injuries, like ACL injuries, can sideline a young athlete for months or even end a career. While creaky joints are not on your young players’ minds, sports injuries can increase the risk for osteoarthritis later in life. ACL injuries can lead to osteoarthritis earlier than you think!
A consistent training program can reduce the chance of knee injuries by up to 50% and may help prevent osteoarthritis. It just takes 10 minutes, 2 to 3 times each week of these simple exercises to protect your players’ joints and improve performance.
The UNC Women’s Soccer Program takes injury prevention seriously. Watch a short video showing how the players and Coach Anson Dorrance fit this training into regular practice to keep players healthy and on the field at peak performance.
Learn about the evidence-base for this toolkit in a series of webinars from experts in the field and published research.
Quick Facts:
- OA is considered a major contributor to disability and is the most common form of arthritis, affecting over 32.5 million Americans.
- Injury to the knee joint, such as an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) rupture, whether treated surgically or non-operatively, can lead to OA of the knee later in life (referred to as post-traumatic osteoarthritis, or PTOA).
- Individuals with a history of knee injury are 3-6 times more likely than those without knee injury to develop knee OA.
- Down the line, almost half of individuals with an ACL injury will develop knee OA within 10 years.
- Joint injury is common in the general population, but it occurs at a higher rate in athletes. Neuromuscular training exercises can reduce the risk of traumatic knee injury by up to 80%. These exercises also improve strength, balance, and measures of athletic performance.
Just 10 minutes of Remain in the Game: A Joint Effort could mean avoiding 10 months of recovery for your players. Make the time to include Remain in the Game: A Joint Effort at every practice.
- Tom Trojian, Jeff Driban, Hayley Root, Lindsay DiStefano, Cynthia LaBella, Cristina Nistler, Yvonne Golightly, Monette Williams, Kirsten Ambrose, Allison Albright
- Exercise videography: Isaac Easley, Take It Easley Productions, LLC, Pheonix, AZ
- Toolkit development: BCDC Ideas, Raleigh, NC
The program is hosted by The Osteoarthritis Action Alliance (OAAA) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and endorsed by the National Athletic Trainers’ Association (NATA).
