Introducing the FIFA 11+ Injury Prevention Program
Well, it’s actually been around for over 10 years, but the FIFA landmark injury prevention program has had time to grow and is now backed by high level evidence as a gold standard template for running and team based sports.
In 2004, FIFA’s Medical Assessment and Research Centre (F-MARC) began to notice a worrying trend in repetitive non-contact injuries, particularly in the youth population.
When investigating into the root causes of these injuries, they found that a high percentage of teams did not have any formalised injury prevention programs, other than their usual warm up routines. These routines were varied from team to team, and would generally only focus on running and stretching. There were more structured warm ups prior to games, but these weren’t usually practiced at training.
In particular, coaches were noting that young, talented players were stepping up into higher levels of play without any disciplined habits of maintaining strength and fitness outside of the training ground. During training, coaches were finding it difficult to incorporate a thorough warm-up program in the limited time available, preferring to focus on skills and team strategy instead.
Which is why F-MARC developed their FIFA 11+ program. Initially starting with 11 key exercises, the program has since expanded to 15 elements that are expected to take 15-20 mins of time to complete. They were compiled by leading experts in the field of injury prevention and implemented to target players 14 years and older, both male and female.From the initial prospective studies progressing to well structured controlled trials, the 11+ program has grown a substantial bank of data, and is now being incorporated into the warm-up routines of several top flight clubs and national teams, including Germany and Brazil.
The key elements to the program are broken down into 3 parts:
Part 1: running exercises at a slow speed combined with active stretching with a partner.
Part 2: six sets of exercises focusing on core and leg strength, balance and plyometrics/ agility, each with three levels of increasing difficulty.
Part 3: running exercises at moderate/high speed combined with planting/cutting movements.
This combination of graduated exercises prepares the neuromuscular and motor pattern systems within a player’s body to improve awareness and balance. With a focus on correct technique and controlled motion, the program is proving effective in reducing a significant number of non-contact injuries.
A recent systematic review published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine found evidence that the 11+ program reduced the number of injuries throughout a season by 39%!
I think that every coach and player would agree that having 4 out of 10 less players unavailable due to injury at the pointy end of a season is worth the process of implementing the 11+.
Over the next few weeks, we will be taking a closer look at the key elements of the 11+ program, and breaking it down piece by piece for you.
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