The document discusses injury prediction in team sports. It notes that injuries can be devastating for athletes and teams. Several models have been developed to predict sports injuries by associating the risk of injury with factors like an athlete's stress levels and training intensity. New technologies like GPS tracking can collect player data to evaluate injury risks and optimize training plans. However, while researchers have made progress in developing injury prediction tools, many coaches and managers remain reluctant to invest in prevention measures due to costs or preferences for other technologies. Widespread adoption of predictive technologies depends on stakeholders understanding their benefits for mitigating preventable injuries.

1. Running head: PREDICTING INJURIES 1
Injury Prediction in Team’s Sports

2. PREDICTING INJURIES 2
PREDICTING INJURIES
Injury in sports is a devastating experience in the lives of athletes as well as their
respective teams. It is imperative, therefore to put extra effort in injuries prevention in high
performance sport teams, for the benefit of both players as well as their teams. It is the wish of
every coach to field every player, especially those of high caliber, in every training and game
sessions.
The significance of injuries in sport, attaches critical importance to the urgent need of
injury prediction tools and appropriate measures to counter the risk of injury in sport. However,
the application of such tools has often been looked down by team managers, who would rather
invest in technologies costing millions of dollars instead of injury prevention measures. This
work presents a thought-provoking content on injury prevention in sports and the contribution of
such measures on individual players and sport teams (Samuel et al., 2015).
Several theoretical models have been developed in sports injury prevention and
prediction research. One of the most prominent model is the stress and athletic injury that seeks
to associate the magnitude of an athlete injury to the stress level (Williams and Andersen, 1998).
Injury level is thus associated with the intensity of the training and competition, two of the
stressful situations for an athlete.
In sports development, there has been continued efforts by professionals to collect
important data which could be used to ascertain specific injury probability for a given player.
This data can optimize training plans for maximum positive outcomes. Technology has been a
crucial part in sports, a good example being the use of GPS devices by players while training and
in some instances in matches under the permission from sport governing body in respective

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leagues and tournaments during matches as well. GPS is believed to provide valuable
information about a player. Data collected can be used by the Sports Science team to evaluate
various scenarios for instance the risks of the occurrence of a non-contact injury for a particular
athlete.
GPS devices are only one of the many technologies available that could be applied in the
prevention injuries. Tracking systems also provide and exciting technologies as learned from my
encounter with real Madrid football team Doctor. In Cologne, Germany there are developments
of high-tech tools for analyzing movement flaws of an athlete, while identifying imbalances that
can lead to injury. This devices when implemented in an injury prevention programme would aid
in the prevention of injuries that put the athlete and the team in awkward position in terms of its
fitness and competitiveness. Nowadays players and the team have to bear with unimaginable loss
in player’s time and the opportunity for sports an achievement due preventable injuries.
However, although there are a range of technologies that promises to revolutionize the
sport industry especially in injury mitigation, many of the stakeholders, including managers and
players and the team have not endorsed such measures. The Accumulated Chronic workload
Ratio seems to me a very simple yet robust tool, which attempts to address this issue of injury
prevention. It is alluded that most injuries are as a result of high load that some athletes need to
sustain throughout their seasons (Ivarsson et al., 2016).
Regardless the level of the clubs, sports scientists are at the top of their game when it
comes to the development of the technologies related to injury prevention. The adoption and
practical implementation in the teams remains the thorny issue.

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However, as the rate of injuries continue to surge and the economic loss continue to
increase managers, players and other technologies will realize the potential benefits of sports
injury prevention technologies and the need to adopt and implement them. It is clear that
research in this area has outpaced the adoption of these technologies, the adoption and
implementation will depend on the stakeholders’ understandings of the fundamental tenets of
sport-related injury prevention technologies. Awareness of such programmes should be extended
to important stakeholders in sports such as athletes, who will often find such tools as important
assets in their career (Urban and Andreas, 2010).
Convergence innovation which is utilizing data and informational technology is taking
over in different sectors, the sport sector is not an exception. The remaining step is to create
awareness of such programmes to the important stakeholders in order to witness their eventual
adoption. As competition becomes intense in the sport industry, athletes continue being pushed
beyond their human capacity, resulting in preventable injuries. This calls for the adoption of the
proposed technologies to acts as important assets for athletes’ adaptability in a highly
competitive sport environment.
For instance, the number of matches a single player has to play in top leagues in England
are incredibly high, increasing the chances of preventable injuries. Matching this with the
adoption of technologies for preventing injuries will immensely alter the way athletes are
perceived in their career. It will also remove much of the pressure from the athlete so that they
can focus on trainings that will ensure they physically fit to meet the challenges in the field
without facing uncertainties due to the high risks in injuries. For managers, match planning will
be eased since planning will be effective, without the uncertainties brought about by injuries,
some of which are acquired in training.

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Awareness will seek to model athletes and other stakeholders on the need of adopting
new innovative technologies in their careers. This can be achieved through the adoption of a
strong communication between the stakeholders and athletes in in order to facilitate a win-win
situation.
Recent developments in sports, to some extent have all faced a lag phase in their
adoption, such the goal line technologies. There are prevailing discourses on the use of
technologies in sports, opponents argue that technologies are removing the human factor in
sports, making the sport less entertaining and robotic.
Most of the predictive factors in sports related injuries are biologically related. For
instance, the weight or height can be used to predict the risk of athletes’ injury. Poor training
methods have also been implicated in sports related injuries. There is no adequate preparation for
encounters in potential dangerous position or athlete activities. The time dedicated to training
and rest before matches can be used as a predictive measure for sport related injuries. Poor
training plan leads to abrupt training intensity which can be overwhelming to the athlete leading
to high probability of sports related injuries (Cruz-Marquez et al., 2012).
This argument can be countered by the need of perceiving sports as career that need
adequate tools to address its pitfalls such as the persistent preventable injuries that stall athletes
careers. Investing in technologies and movement of the stakeholders in sports technologies
development at the initial stage, may be an alternative in reducing the lag phase for adopting
technologies such as sports injury prevention tools.
The underlying concept of sport injuries prevention lies in the technology and equipment
dyad as explained in McIntosh (2014). Research in sport injury prevention is centered on the

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two, where knowledge is applied in research to improve standard, design and products
acceptable by the various stakeholders. There is a high turnover of sports equipment and
technology, however, the uptake of such technologies faces regulations hurdles and suspicion on
creating sporting advantage or disadvantage, leading to significantly slow rate of adoption.
Lack of leadership and consensus on the technologies that constitute abetting assistance
in sporting activities as opposed to facilitation is also a persistent problem in technology
adoption. Rules and policies in sport are archaic and may not represent the current innovative
scenario of modern times. The approval mechanism has also takes significant amount of time,
reducing the pace of innovation in sport.

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Cruz-Márquez, J.C., Cruz-Campos, A., Cruz-Campos, J.C., Cueto-Martín, M.B. García-Jiménez,
M. and Campos-Blasco, M.T. (2012). Prediction of sports injuries by mathematical
models. Retrieved from https://www.intechopen.com/books/an-international-perspective-
on-topics-in-sports-medicine-and-sports-injury/prediction-of-sports-injuries-by-
mathematical-models
Ivarsson, A., Johnson, U., and Andersen M.B., (2016). Psychosocial factors and sport injuries:
Meta-analyses for prediction and prevention. Sports Med.
McIntosh, A. (2014). Technology and equipment in sports injury prevention – The performance
challenge. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, 18S (2014) e108–e135.
Samuel R.D., Tenenbaum, G. and Mangel, E. (2015). Athletes’ experiences of severe injuries as
a career change event. J Sport Psychol Action, 6:99-120.
Urban, J. and Andreas, I. (2010). Psychosocial Factors and Sport Injuries: Prediction, Prevention
and Future Research Directions, Current Opinion in Psychology,
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2017.04.023
Williams, J.M. and Andersen, M.B. (1998). Psychosocial antecedents of sport injury: review and
critique of the stress and injury model. J Appl Sport Psychol, 10(1):5–25.

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