@article{ref1,
title="The 11+ Kids warm-up programme to prevent injuries in young Iranian male high-level football (soccer) players: a cluster-randomised controlled trial",
journal="Journal of science and medicine in sport",
year="2019",
author="Zarei, Mostafa and Abbasi, Hamed and Namazi, Parisa and Asgari, Mojtaba and Rommers, Nikki and Rössler, Roland",
volume="ePub",
number="ePub",
pages="ePub-ePub",
abstract="OBJECTIVE: To assess the effectiveness of the 11+ Kids warm-up programme regarding injury reduction in male high-level children's football (soccer) players. <br><br>DESIGN: Cluster-randomised controlled trial. <br><br>METHOD: Male youth football teams of Iran's high-level football schools were invited to participate. Inclusion criteria were: teams are competing in the highest league of their province; players are between 7 and 14 years old; regular training takes place at least twice per week. Teams were excluded if they used an injury prevention measure. Participating clubs were randomised to an intervention (INT, N = 20 teams) and a control group (CON, N = 22 teams), stratified by the number of teams and the age group. The groups were blinded against each other. The follow-up period was one season (9 months). INT replaced their warm-up by 11+ Kids. CON performed a standard warm-up programme. The primary outcome was the injury incidence density (injuries per 1000 h of football exposure), compared between groups by incidence rate ratios (RR). <br><br>RESULTS: In total, 64,047 h of football exposure of 962 players (INT = 443 players, 31,934 h of football, CON = 519 players, 32,113 h of football) were recorded. During the study, 90 (INT = 30; CON = 60) injuries occurred. The overall injury incidence density in INT was reduced by 50% compared to CON (RR 0.50; 95%-CI 0.32, 0.78). No injuries occurred during the execution of the intervention exercises. <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: The 11+ Kids reduces injuries in high-level children's football players, thus supporting player health and potentially performance and player development.<br><br>Copyright © 2019 Sports Medicine Australia. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1440-2440",
doi="10.1016/j.jsams.2019.12.001",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jsams.2019.12.001"
}