By Jennifer Trueland
Researchers are looking for boys who don’t play football – or much in the way of other sports – to take part in a study to show the effects of intensive training on young bones.
Healthy boys aged 12 to 14 will be compared to young footballers at the Youth Academy of Rangers Football Club in the Dundee University research, with the aim of measuring the impact of targeted training on bone growth.
Although football is a popular sport – and youngsters signed up for youth schemes undergo rigorous training – there is little evidence about whether the hours of practice and specific exercises are actually beneficial to growing individuals, said Professor Rami Abboud, director of the university’s Institute of Motion Analysis & Research (IMAR).
“This limited knowledge is worrying with respect to the short and long-term welfare of young footballers, as well as society as a whole, due to the ever increasing focus on promoting a healthy lifestyle in order to tackle childhood obesity,” he added.
The project is a collaboration between IMAR, Rangers Football Club and another two of the university’s centres, the Centre for Anatomy and Human Identification (CAHID), which recently featured in the major BBC2 series History Cold Case, and the Institute of Sports and Exercise (ISE), which has been chosen as one of the centres for training for the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014.
Boys taking part in the research project will have their movements captured using the same kind of hi-tech motion analysis that is used to produce computer games, such as the FIFA football games, and movies. They will be asked to visit IMAR, where motion analysis cameras will be used to capture their movements in 3D.
“We already have a good group of young footballers engaged with the study, thanks to the part Rangers are playing in the study,” said Professor Abboud. “But we need another group of non-sports-playing boys so we can start to make comparisons between the two different types.”
“Understanding the long-term growth and development of individuals could significantly influence school curricular activities and professional training regime policies, therefore this research has the potential to improve the overall health of our future society,” he added.
* Anyone interested in taking part should contact imar@dundee.ac.uk,
telephone 01382 496332, or write to: The Institute of Motion Analysis & Research (IMAR), TORT Centre, Ninewells Hospital & Medical School, Dundee, DD1 9SY. Travel expenses will be reimbursed.
Donate to us: support independent, intelligent, in-depth Scottish journalism from just 3p a day
Related posts: