Module 2: Identification of risk factors

Sports Injuries

1. Identification of risk factors
   1. Extrinsic injury
   2. Intrinsic injury
2. Extrinsic risk factors
   1. Inappropriate coaching of instruction
   2. Incorrect technique
   3. Environmental conditions
   4. Other sports players
   5. Equipment, clothing, and footwear issues
3. Safety checks
4. Intrinsic risk factors
   1. Poor preparation
5. Planning a warm-up activity
   1. Muscle imbalance
   2. Fitness levels
   3. Postural defects
   4. Overuse
   5. Poor technique
   6. Age
   7. Injury history
   8. Nutrition
6. Intrinsic and extrinsic risk factors activity
7. Summary of injuries and risk factors activity
8. Preventative methods

Safety checks

There are a number of safety checks that can be completed before a session to ensure that all staff and participants are safe during an activity.

These can include: -

• A risk assessment
• Coach/teacher checks
• Peer checks
• Umpire checks

Risk assessments: - these are formal documents completed at designated intervals by a facility to ensure the environment is safe for all users.

Coach/teacher checks: - Before a session a coach should always ensure that players are dressed appropriately, the environment is suitable to perform that activity, that they are sure of the correct techniques to teach the players and that all players are listening to instructions carefully.

Peer checks: - It is also good practise to get the players to do safety checks on each other to ensure the coach hasn't missed anything. They should also be encouraged to highlight any health and safety issues to the coach. For example on a football pitch a pair might be practising corners kicks and there is some glass by the corner flag that hadn't been noticed before. They should then report this straight away so players do not used this area of the pitch or to get the glass removed.

Umpire checks: - Similar checks should also be performed by the umpires of games. For example at netball games the umpires should always check the length of the players nails, as this is a hazard in that sport.

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