Community Australian Football Research Articles

An industry supported healthcare model for concussion management in junior community Australian Football

An industry supported healthcare model for concussion management in junior community Australian Football

Injury prevention for women and girls playing Australian Football: programme cocreation, dissemination and early adopter coach feedback

BackgroundAdherence to injury prevention programmes may improve with greater end-user involvement and application of implementation frameworks during development. We describe the cocreation, initial dissemination and feedback from programme early adopters...

Concussion in Community Australian Football: a two-season prospective study in 2713 Women and Girls

Concussion in Community Australian Football: a two-season prospective study in 2713 Women and Girls

Evaluation of an injury prevention program (Prep-to-Play) in 2713 women and girls playing community Australian Football: a hybrid implementation-effectiveness, stepped-wedge cluster randomised controlled trial

Evaluation of an injury prevention program (Prep-to-Play) in 2713 women and girls playing community Australian Football: a hybrid implementation-effectiveness, stepped-wedge cluster randomised controlled trial

An evaluation of a mental health literacy program for community sport leaders

Community sports coaches and leaders can have an important role to play as informal resources for sporting adolescents and adults at risk of mental ill-health. Supporting coach mental health literacy using programs has potential to enhance opportunities for coach-player support. This study aimed to evaluate a community sport mental health literacy program and its capacity to improve club leader confidence to support and refer (primary outcome), awareness of resources, beliefs about mental health and stigmatizing attitudes (social distance). A cluster-randomized controlled evaluation was conducted with measures taken at baseline (around 2 weeks prior to intervention), immediately post-program and at a nine-month follow up. Twenty-five community Australian Rules Football clubs from metropolitan and regional centres were sampled and matched by size and location. Coaches or sport leaders (n = 265) were randomized by club to either the intervention group or a waitlist control group. A multivariate analysis of variance (pre-test scores as covariates) revealed participants in the ‘Tackle Your Feelings’ (TYF) program reported improved outcomes compared to controls on measures tied to leader confidence to support and refer, knowledge of resources to support mental health, general help-seeking and stigmatizing attitudes tied to social distance. A fifth measure of beliefs about mental illness was not impacted by the program. A nine-month comparison group follow-up indicated some decay in scores over time. The results suggest that TYF programs can be effective at improving coach mental health literacy in community sporting club contexts.

Self-reported injuries in 2440 women and girls playing community Australian football: a cross-sectional study

Introduction: The increasing women’s participation in community Australian Football (AF) is accompanied by the risk of serious knee and head injury. However, we know little about these women and their injury profile. We aim to describe the prevalence of prior and current serious injuries and explore the relationship between sociodemographic factors and history of serious knee injury.

Insights from an examination of a state league coach development initiative in community Australian Football (AFL) clubs

ABSTRACT Background: The need to generate empirical evidence regarding the nature of coach development in sports coaching to inform more meaningful coach education programmes is recognised. Understanding the professional development of sport coaches is a developing and growing area of scholarship, with calls for the implementation and evaluation of mentoring programmes that provide in situ contextualised mentoring to support coach development. Purpose: This paper provides insights gained from the examination of a coach education programme in Australia run by a state Australian football (AFL: Australian Football League) sporting body that utilised the role of a dedicated coach developer to facilitate community club coach development. Method: The research was guided by an interpretivist perspective and used a qualitative methodology enabling the researchers to make meaning from the data. Focus groups (N = 4: 12 participants) and semi-structured individual interviews (N = 9) were used to collect data. The interviews were analysed utilising inductive thematic analysis. Themes derived from interpretative analysis of the interview data were then analysed using an abductive process of induction and deduction to consider the data through the lens of the theoretical framework: situated learning. Results: The four themes developed were: reliance on volunteers; coach development resources, barriers and facilitators of coach development and club culture. The study found that cultivating coach education as a community of practice is not easy in an environment that is reliant on a volunteer workforce. Conclusion: A club culture that places a focus on a positive player environment through quality coaching tends to invest in a coach and player retention, and parent satisfaction and engagement. The affiliation of positive physical, social and cultural concepts with a positive player environment led clubs to anticipate success in these areas and a translation to the best possible quality in coaching practice, sustainable learning and knowledge acquisition. Further research is warranted to broaden knowledge of the scope of practice across other states in Australia and other sporting bodies.

Feasibility of Injury Reporting Via Text Messaging in Club Sport Settings: A Prospective Cohort Study

A novel technique of short message service (SMS), or text message, has examined injuries in elite handball and female football and community Australian football with a response rate of over 75%. The purpose of this study was to determine if text message is a feasible method of prospectively collecting injury density data in club sports teams in the United States. Participants received a weekly text message with four questions asking about pain and participation in the past week. If the participant indicated pain in the past week, a follow-up phone interview was conducted to determine the nature of the pain/injury. The overall text message response rate was 89.8%; there were 281 responses out of 313 participant contacts over the 12-week study period. Semi-structured follow-up phone interviews were completed for 37 of the 55 reports of pain that were indicated through text message response, resulting in further injury information for 65.5% of injuries. Incidence density of reporting pain over the 12-week study was 0.88 (95% CI: 0.68–1.15) per 1,000 min of activity. In this sample, text message response rates were similar to previous studies; however, we did lose nine (25.7%) participants to follow-up.

Injury reporting via SMS text messaging and online survey in community sport: A feasibility study

The burden of injuries sustained in community Australian football is largely unknown due to the lack of viable injury surveillance methods. The use of novel methods such as automated text messaging (SMS) combined with online surveys for new injury registrations has not been evaluated in community sport. The aim of this study was to investigate the feasibility of an automated method for injury surveillance. A total of 207 players, from 10 community clubs, consented to receiving post‐game text messages regarding training exposure and injuries during the preceding week, for 20 weeks. In addition to responding via SMS messaging, players completed hyperlinked online surveys to enter new injury details. Outcome variables included the injury incidence rates, players’ responses rates, response times, the number of complete injury records, and time burden for the participants and researchers. The incidence rate was 11.6 injuries per 1000 player hours (95% CI: 10.0‐13.5). The feasibility measures established (a) average weekly response rates of 74.1% (range 61.7%‐91.5%); (b) fast response times to SMS messages (62% within an hour); (c) moderate to high completeness of injury records (85.2%); (d) short time requirements to complete the online survey (2 minutes); and (e) researcher time saved by automation (28.8 hours less time to collect injury data). The automated method was found to be a feasible method of injury surveillance in community sport. While the completeness of injury records could be improved, the method has the potential to allow for wide‐scale injury surveillance within community Australian football.

Controlled ecological evaluation of an implemented exercise training programme to prevent lower limb injuries in sport: differences in implementation activity

ObjectiveThe public health benefits of injury prevention programmes are maximised when programmes are widely adopted and adhered to. Therefore, these programmes require appropriate implementation support. This study evaluated implementation activity...

Working towards More Effective Implementation, Dissemination and Scale-Up of Lower-Limb Injury-Prevention Programs: Insights from Community Australian Football Coaches.

Disseminating lower-limb injury-prevention exercise programs (LL-IPEPs) with strategies that effectively reach coaches across sporting environments is a way of preventing lower-limb injuries (LLIs) and ensuring safe and sustainable sport participation. The aim of this study was to explore community-Australian Football (community-AF) coaches’ perspectives on the strategies they believed would enhance the dissemination and scale-up of LL-IPEPs. Using a qualitative multiple case study design, semi-structured interviews with community-AF coaches in Victoria, Australia, were conducted. Overall, coaches believed a range of strategies were important including: coach education, policy drivers, overcoming potential problem areas, a ‘try before you buy approach’, presenting empirical evidence and guidelines for injury-prevention exercise programs (IPEPs), forming strategic collaboration and working in partnership, communication and social marketing, public meetings, development of a coach hotline, and targeted multi-focused approaches. A shift to a culture whereby evidence-based IPEP practices in community-AF will take time, and persistent commitment by all involved in the sport is important. This will support the creation of strategies that will enhance the dissemination and scale-up of LL-IPEPs across community sport environments. The focus of research needs to continue to identify effective, holistic and multi-level interventions to support coaches in preventing LLIs. This could lead to the determination of successful strategies such as behavioural regulation strategies and emotional coping resources to implement LL-IPEPs into didactic curricula and practice. Producing changes in practice will require attention to which strategies are a priority and the most effective.

The validity and reliability of the sphygmomanometer for hip strength assessment in Australian football players

ABSTRACTObjectives: To investigate the intra-rater and inter-rater reliability of the sphygmomanometer for the assessment of the adductor squeeze test and isometric hip abduction strength and to investigate the concurrent validity of the sphygmomanometer for the assessment of hip muscular strength. Method: Thirty-two healthy adult male community Australian football players (age 23.9 ± 4.5 years) were assessed by two blinded raters that measured the strength of the adductor squeeze test and isometric hip abduction, using a commercially available sphygmomanometer. Concurrent validity was calculated using handheld dynamometry as the reference standard. Results: Moderate to high intra-rater reliability (ICC = 0.61 to 0.92) and high inter-rater reliability (ICC = 0.77 to 0.91) were found. High concurrent validity (Pearson’s r = 0.77 to 0.91) was established. Sixteen of the participants reached the maximal reading of the sphygmomanometer, demonstrating a ceiling effect. Conclusions: A sphygmomanometer is a cost-efficient device that appears to be both reliable and valid for the assessment of hip strength, offering clinicians an alternate and easily accessible option to obtain objective strength data. A ceiling effect may limit the application of the sphygmomanometer as a strength measurement device in stronger individuals.

Implementation of the hamstring lowers exercise in community Australian football – A case study

Implementation of the hamstring lowers exercise in community Australian football – A case study

Evaluation of the implementation of a lower limb injury prevention program in community Australian football

Evaluation of the implementation of a lower limb injury prevention program in community Australian football

Scientific evidence is just the starting point: A generalizable process for developing sports injury prevention interventions

BackgroundThe 2 most cited sports injury prevention research frameworks incorporate intervention development, yet little guidance is available in the sports science literature on how to undertake this complex process. This paper presents a generalizable process for developing implementable sports injury prevention interventions, including a case study applying the process to develop a lower limb injury prevention exercise training program (FootyFirst) for community Australian football. MethodsThe intervention development process is underpinned by 2 complementary premises: (1) that evidence-based practice integrates the best available scientific evidence with practitioner expertise and end user values and (2) that research evidence alone is insufficient to develop implementable interventions. ResultsThe generalizable 6-step intervention development process involves (1) compiling research evidence, clinical experience, and knowledge of the implementation context; (2) consulting with experts; (3) engaging with end users; (4) testing the intervention; (5) using theory; and (6) obtaining feedback from early implementers. Following each step, intervention content and presentation should be revised to ensure that the final intervention includes evidence-informed content that is likely to be adopted, properly implemented, and sustained over time by the targeted intervention deliverers. For FootyFirst, this process involved establishing a multidisciplinary intervention development group, conducting 2 targeted literature reviews, undertaking an online expert consensus process, conducting focus groups with program end users, testing the program multiple times in different contexts, and obtaining feedback from early implementers of the program. ConclusionThis systematic yet pragmatic and iterative intervention development process is potentially applicable to any injury prevention topic across all sports settings and levels. It will guide researchers wishing to undertake intervention development.

We have the programme, what next? Planning the implementation of an injury prevention programme

Background and aimThe impact of any injury prevention programme is a function of the programme and its implementation. However, real world implementation of injury prevention programmes is challenging. Lower limb...

Preventing Australian football injuries with a targeted neuromuscular control exercise programme: comparative injury rates from a training intervention delivered in a clustered randomised controlled trial

BackgroundExercise-based training programmes are commonly used to prevent sports injuries but programme effectiveness within community men's team sport is largely unknown.ObjectiveTo present the intention-to-treat analysis of injury outcomes from a...

Concussion in community Australian football - epidemiological monitoring of the causes and immediate impact on play.

BackgroundHead injuries, particularly concussion, are a major cause of concern in many sports, particularly the football codes, driving a need to better understand injury mechanisms and potential methods of prevention. The aim of this study was to describe the mechanisms and follow up care of concussion injuries sustained in adult male community Australian football to identify target areas for prevention and management.MethodsSecondary analysis of injury data collected in a cluster randomised controlled trial in community Australian football across two states of Australia in 2007 and 2008. There were 1564 players from 18 clubs. The main outcome measures were the number and rate of head/neck/face (HNF) injuries and concussion sustained in games. A specific description of the mechanisms of the concussion injuries is presented along with the immediate return-to-play status of concussion cases.Results143 HNF injuries were sustained by 132 players. The game HNF injury incidence was 4.9 per 1000 game hours (n = 138; 95 % confidence interval 4.1; 5.7). Just under a quarter (n = 34) of all HNF injuries were recorded as concussion. All concussions occurred during games (none in training), with all but one related to body contact with other players. Overall, 68 % of the concussions were considered within game rules, while 32 % were either outside of the rules or unclear. Most (88 %) players left the field immediately following concussion but 47 % later returned to play in the same game.ConclusionsPrevention strategies for concussion need to be based on knowledge of the mechanisms of injury. Most concussions in community Australian football occurred through body contact with other players or during tackling. Management of players post-concussion was generally poor with over half of the cases continuing to play in the same game. Therefore, new primary prevention strategies that target body-contact/tackling skills and improved secondary prevention measures relating to compliance with return-to-play protocols would be valuable.

Bridging the gap between content and context: establishing expert consensus on the content of an exercise training program to prevent lower-limb injuries.

To achieve expert consensus on the content of an exercise training program (known as FootyFirst) to prevent lower-limb injuries. Three-round online Delphi consultation process. Community Australian Football (AF). Members of the Australian Football Leagues' Medical Officers (n = 94), physiotherapists (n = 50), and Sports Science (n = 19) Associations were invited to participate through e-mail. Five people with more general expertise in sports-related lower-limb injury prevention were also invited to participate. The primary outcome measure was the level of agreement on the appropriateness of the proposed exercises and progressions for inclusion in FootyFirst. Consensus was reached when ≥75% of experts who responded to each item agreed and strongly agreed, or disagreed and strongly disagreed, that an exercise or its progressions were appropriate to include in FootyFirst. Fifty-five experts participated in at least 1 Delphi round. In round 1, consensus was achieved that the proposed warm-up (run through and dynamic stretches) and the exercises and progressions for hamstring strength and for balance, landing, and changing direction were appropriate to include in FootyFirst. There was also consensus in round 1 that progressions for hip/core strength should be included in FootyFirst. Consensus was reached in round 2 that the revised groin strength and hip strength exercises should be included in FootyFirst. Consensus was reached for the progression of the groin strength exercises in round 3. The formal consensus development process has resulted in an evidence-informed, researcher-developed, exercise-based sports injury prevention program that is expert endorsed and specific to the context of AF. Lower-limb injuries are common in running, kicking, and contact sports like AF. These injuries are often costly to treat, and many have high rates of recurrence, making them challenging to treat clinically. Reducing these injuries is a high priority for players, teams, and medical staff. Exercise programs provide a method for primary prevention of lower-limb injuries, but they have to be evidence based, have currency with sports practitioners/clinicians, and utility for the context in which they are to be used. However, the comprehensive methods and clinical engagement processes used to develop injury prevention exercise programs have not previously been described in detail. This study describes the results of engaging clinicians and sport scientists in the development of a lower-limb sports injury prevention program for community AF, enabling the development of a program that is both evidence informed and considerate of expert clinical opinion.

Implementation of concussion guidelines in community Australian Football and Rugby League-The experiences and challenges faced by coaches and sports trainers.

While guidelines outlining the appropriate management of sport-related concussion have been developed and adapted for use within community sport, it remains unknown how they are experienced by those responsible for implementing them. Longitudinal study. 111 coaches and sports trainers from community-level Australian Football and Rugby League teams completed pre- and post-season surveys assessing their attitudes towards using concussion guidelines. Participants also provided post-season feedback regarding their experiences in using the guidelines. 71% of participants reported using the guidelines in the preceding season. Post-season attitude was related to pre-season attitude (p=0.002), football code (p=0.015), and team role (p=0.045). An interaction between team role and guideline use (p=0.012) was also found, with coaches who had used the guidelines, and sports trainers who had not, reporting more positive post-season attitudes towards using the concussion guidelines. Implementation challenges included disputing of decisions about return-to-play by players, parents, and coaches, and a perceived lack of time. Recommendations for improved guideline materials included using larger fonts and providing for witnessing of advice given to players. This is the first study to examine the implementation of concussion guidelines in community sport. Training of coaches/sports trainers needs enhancement. In addition, new education should be developed for parents/players about the importance of the return-to-play advice given to them by those who follow these guidelines. Information provided by those who attempted to use the guidelines will assist the refinement of implementation and dissemination processes around concussion guidelines across sports.