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Sports Injury Prevention is Complex: We Need to Invest in Better Processes, Not Singular Solutions

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Abstract

In recent years, an understanding has developed that sports injuries are the emergent outcomes of complex, dynamic systems. Thus, the influence of local contextual factors on injury outcomes is increasingly being acknowledged. These realisations place injury prevention research at a crossroads. Currently, injury prevention researchers develop universally applicable injury prevention solutions, but the adoption of these solutions in practice is low. This occurs because implementation contexts are both unique and dynamic in nature, and as a result singular, static solutions are often incompatible. In contrast, practitioners address injury prevention through iterative cycles of trial and error, aiming to optimise the injury prevention process within their own unique contexts. The purpose of this critical review is to draw attention to the misalignment between research and practice-based approaches to injury prevention. In light of this, we propose alternative research approaches that acknowledge the process-driven nature of injury prevention in practice. We propose that a core focus of sport injury prevention research should be to provide practitioners with useful and relevant information to support their decision making around their localised injury prevention practice. Through this approach, injury prevention research ceases to be about what works, and begins to engage with understanding what works in what contexts and why?

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Dr. Sheree Bekker of the Department for Health, University of Bath, Bath, United Kingdom for help in the conceptualisation of this review.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sport Studies, Faculty of Applied Sciences, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa

    Jason C. Tee

  2. Carnegie Applied Rugby Research (CARR) Centre, Institute for Sport Physical Activity and Leisure, Leeds Beckett University, Leeds, UK

    Jason C. Tee, Shaun J. McLaren & Ben Jones

  3. England Performance Unit, The Rugby Football League, Leeds, UK

    Shaun J. McLaren & Ben Jones

  4. Leeds Rhinos Rugby League Club, Leeds, UK

    Ben Jones

  5. Yorkshire Carnegie Rugby Union Club, Leeds, UK

    Ben Jones

  6. School of Science and Technology, University of New England, Armidale, NSW, Australia

    Ben Jones

  7. Division of Exercise Science and Sports Medicine, Department of Human Biology, Faculty of Health Sciences, The University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa

    Ben Jones

  8. The Sports Science Institute of South Africa, Cape Town, South Africa

    Ben Jones

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Correspondence to Jason C. Tee.

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Jason Tee, Ben Jones and Shaun McLaren declare that they have no conflicts of interest relevant to the content of this review.

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Tee, J.C., McLaren, S.J. & Jones, B. Sports Injury Prevention is Complex: We Need to Invest in Better Processes, Not Singular Solutions. Sports Med 50, 689–702 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-019-01232-4

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