This one comes from Collingwood Women's Physio Mick Hughes and is something that we should all consider as we finish a spoting season - or start a new one.
This may come as no surprise to some of you, but stronger athletes have a significantly lower risk of injury compared to those who aren't as strong.
This study on a group of sub-elite male athletes by Malone et al (2018) looked at injury rates over 2yrs in relation to workload, relative strength, repeated sprint ability and speed.
One of many key findings was; having higher relative strength on a trap bar deadlift for 3 reps (weight lifted compared to athlete's body weight) resulted in a significantly lower risk of lower limb injury.
Note the difference in risk by being able to deadlift 1.0 - 1.7x body weight compared to 2.5 - 2.9x body weight.
Take home message: Injury prevention is performance enhancing, and improved physical performance reduces injury risk!
Click here to see the graph!