Sports injury prevention programmes from the sports physical therapist's perspective: An international expert Delphi approach

Abstract

Objective: To provide consensus on how to plan, organize and implement exercise-based injury prevention program (IPP) in sports.

Design: Delphi.

Setting: LimeSurvey platform.

Participants: Experienced sports physical therapists from the International Federation of Sports Physical Therapy member countries.

Main outcome measures: Factors related to sports IPP planning, organization and implementation.

Results: We included 305 participants from 32 countries. IPP planning should be based on an athlete's injury history, on pre-season screening results, and on injury rates (respectively, 98%, 92%, 89% agreement). In total 97% participants agreed that IPP organization should depend on the athlete's age, 93% on the competition level, and 93% on the availability of low-cost materials. It was agreed that IPP should mainly be implemented in warm-up sessions delivered by the head or strength/conditioning coach, with physical training sessions and individual physical therapy sessions (respectively, 94%, 92%, 90% agreement).

Conclusion: Strong consensus was reached on (1) IPP based on the athlete's injury history, pre-season screening and evidence-based sports-specific injury rates; (2) IPP organization based on the athlete's age, competition level, and the availability of low-cost materials and (3) IPP implementation focussing on warm-up sessions implemented by the strength/conditioning coach, and/or individual prevention sessions by the physical therapist.

Keywords: Athletic injuries; Consensus; Physical therapy.