Latest news with #injuryprevention
BBC News
13 hours ago
- Sport
- BBC News
Unlucky Weatherall hopes to avoid future injuries
Northamptonshire fast bowler Raphy Weatherall is planning to hone his technique to avoid future injuries after suffering a stress fracture in his back for the second season in a 20-year-old was out of action from mid-August last summer and has been unable to play since April this who has also just completed a second year of studies at the University of Exeter, has played for England at Under-19 level and is the county's most promising young pace bowler."I've had a bit of a rest and I've now got three months of rehabbing and working back to fitness for the start of next year," he told BBC Radio Northampton's The Cricket Show."That's the focus for me, just getting as strong as possible and working on my technique a lot during the season."I spoke to (bowling coach) Rory (Kleinveldt) and he said I'm almost there but there's a few things I need to work on and bring them into games rather than just doing it in practice which will stand me in good stead in trying to avoid this injury in future." Weatherall has played 20 games in all formats for Northants since making his first-team debut in a County Championship game against Middlesex in April recovered from last year's injury, he made a bright start to the current campaign by taking three wickets in each innings against Kent, but has been ruled out since the following week's trip to Emirates Old Trafford to play Lancashire. "I started well and I felt good - I felt fit and in good rhythm for those first two games, so to then start to feel this injury is quite frustrating, especially with all the work I'd done over the winter," he added."I thought this could potentially be quite a big year for me and it's frustrating for it to be cut so short. (But) based on the experience I had last year, I now know what sort of recovery I need to focus on and the methods to achieve that."Weatherall has been advised by head coach Darren Lehmann to distract himself with other interests, including his he is intent on spending as much time around the team as possible and was at Worcester last Friday to see Ben Sanderson produce remarkable T20 Blast figures of 6-8, including a hat-trick. "I was with some of my friends and it was starting to get a little bit nerve-wracking and then Sando comes on and takes four in an over, it was unbelievable to watch," Weatherall added. "His experience, his ability to win games for us, is huge and I really need to learn from his craft."
News.com.au
7 days ago
- Health
- News.com.au
AFL 2025: Richmond tweaks training to strike perfect fitness balance
Richmond has set 'a really clear plan' to strike the balance between preventing injuries and improving fitness in the back end of games. GWS ran over the top of the Tigers last week, kicking five unanswered goals in the final term to win by three points. It was Richmond's second loss by less than a kick in three matches after losing narrowly to North Melbourne in May. With such a young list, an acceleration of match fitness runs the risk of injuring the young players unconditioned to AFL loads. But Richmond coach Adem Yze said the Tigers and high performance manager Ben Serpell had implemented structures to boost fitness with less risk. 'Ben Serpell has set around whether they have a lighter week, I think Jonty Faull is having a lighter week this week and that was planned,' he said. 'We've set a really clear plan on their training loads throughout the year, obviously Josh (Smillie) and Sammy Lalor are having a break now because of injury. 'But if it does come to a point where they've played four, five, six games in a row, they will have a lighter week. 'We don't want them to be missing games, but we will just manage their program. It will just take time. 'Our big boys are playing on some quality defenders and they will be for the rest of the year. It's going to be hard to be consistent across four quarters, but that's what we're trying to fast-track.' Yze said there were no glaring trends from the second close loss, aside from failing to run out the entirety of the match. He took confidence out of the statistics that indicated a much closer contest in the last then the scoreboard suggested. 'Like I said post game, I would be worried if we just got smashed in clearance or inside 50s or couldn't get it out of our back end,' he said. 'On the weekend I think the last quarter was 15 inside 50s to 13. We had some opportunities, we just got a bit tired. 'A couple of younger boys we've noticed late in games are playing on really good defenders, like Sam Taylor's last quarter was enormous. 'We'll look at that, we'll help our younger boys through that, but it's going to take time. 'We're striving to play four-quarter footy. On the weekend we played 3½ and it wasn't good enough.'
CTV News
7 days ago
- General
- CTV News
Island Health raises concussion awareness through impactful demonstration
Injury prevention and safety professionals with Island Health are raising awareness around concussions and the importance of helmets, marking Safe Kids Week from June 2-8. 'When it comes to kids, the main causes of concussion are falls and then with the slightly older kids (it's) sports and recreation,' says Olivia Aguiar, Island Health injury prevention and safety promotion lead. The health professional led a demonstration at Victoria General Hospital by using a simulator to showcase the difference between a crash landing with a helmet on, versus off. The Triax Surface Impacting Testing System measures the force of the impact. In the first test, a helmet was fastened to a rounded weight on a tripod and then dropped with the push of a button, smashing onto a pad on the hospital floor. The helmet cracked and the impact reader peaked at 148. In the second experiment, without a helmet fastened to the weight, the level peaked 12 points higher at 160. 'A helmet, for example, won't prevent a concussion but it will reduce the risk of you experiencing a more severe brain injury,' says Aguiar. She says a concussion is defined as a brain injury that happens when a person suffers a blow to the head, neck or body. 'Signs are things that you can see. So this might be someone looking a bit unbalanced, just not behaving like themselves. Whereas symptoms are something someone feels. So they might express to you, 'Oh, I'm feeling a headache or feel like I'm in a bit of a fog.' Maybe they're having difficulty sleeping. With kids, we often see that it tends to be behavioural issues, so maybe they're more emotional or irritable than usual,' says Aguiar. A trauma services consultant for injury and violence prevention also joined the informational session, which was free to the public to engage in. Amelia Smit is reminding parents and guardians to ensure their child wears a helmet specific to their sport, and one that fits well. 'You want the helmet to stay in place if you were to sustain an impact to the head; so the better fitting the helmet is, the better the chance it will stay in place and it'll absorb that impact,' says Smit. 'Different helmets are designed to absorb impact differently. So a bicycle helmet is designed to absorb one singly large impact, whereas sport helmets are often designed to absorb multiple small impacts.' The consultant says it's important people follow the '2-V-1' rule. It means being able to place two fingers between the brim of the helmet and your eyebrow, having a V-shape around the ear with the strap, and the ability to put just one finger between the chin and strap. Parents and grandparents at an Esquimalt playground agree staying nearby your child is a good idea, in the event of a fall. 'You kind of give them as much leeway as you think it's safe, but it's always a tough balance between injury versus experience,' says father of two, Rory Lambert. The Sidney-based dad says he had a recent scare with his oldest son, and remembers advice from his wife who's an instructor at UVic with a specialty in concussions as well. 'He took a little bit of a step. Bam, his head hit the the ground. My wife is always teaching me, you know, try and watch for the point of injury. If you can't get there in time, you want to know what happened so you can either tell a professional or look at it yourself,' says Lambert. Island Health experts say a key part of concussions is recognizing one early – so when in doubt, take a child to get assessed. 'The longer you wait to address those symptoms, it's actually going to delay the recovery and could have potential long-term consequences,' says Aguiar. 'Every concussion is unique.'
Times
17-05-2025
- Automotive
- Times
Safety research says 10mph limit would cut deaths on city roads
Speed limits should be reduced to 10mph on many city roads to prevent deaths and reduce serious injuries, according to research published by one of Britain's most influential road safety charities. Limits should be cut to this lower level on all roads surrounding schools and hospitals, as well as those in the vicinity of major sports, social and cultural events, the report suggests. The study, published by the Road Safety Foundation, also says that single-carriageway roads, including country roads, should have a limit of no more than 20mph if 'vision zero' is to be achieved. Vision zero is the long-term aspiration for the elimination of road deaths and serious injuries based on 'the moral position that no death or serious injury should be considered an
Forbes
16-05-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Psychology Of Preparation: Why Professionals Skip What Matters Most
Roy Ward, President/CEO of PREGAME®. During my two decades in medical device sales, I witnessed a stark reality that fundamentally changed my perspective on human behavior. Day after day, I observed patients receiving treatments for conditions that could have been mitigated, or even prevented entirely, with proper preparation and preventative care. Even more striking was how universal this pattern appeared, regardless of patients' education, income or awareness of risks. I also realized this observation isn't limited to healthcare. When my company began researching athletic performance, we discovered that even elite athletes—professionals whose livelihoods depend entirely on their bodies—don't always have as many convenient options or time to spend on warmup protocols as they do on recovery and rehabilitation. In business, I see the same pattern. Companies often invest millions in crisis management while underinvesting in strategic preparation. The paradox is clear: We consistently underinvest in preparation and a proactive mindset, despite overwhelming evidence of its importance. I think understanding the psychology behind this tendency is the first step toward creating meaningful change, whether in healthcare, athletics or business leadership. In athletics, research indicates that over 30% of injuries treated in sports medicine clinics are skeletal muscle injuries, many of which can be prevented through proper warmup and stretching routines. Yet, up to 24% of professional athletes retire due to injuries rather than age or performance decline. This highlights that in many cases, despite proper warmup routines administered by coaches and teams, there's still a psychological factor that's contributing to the gap in preparation. This pattern mirrors what we see in business, too. Let's look at startups: CB Insights found that 35% of startups fail because they simply don't have product-market fit. They found that's the second biggest reason startups crash and burn. And the frustrating part? This kind of obstacle could be avoided with proper research and preparation up front. Yet so many founders rush ahead without taking the time to really understand who they're building for. This repeated behavior across domains suggests deeper psychological factors at work. Factors we must understand to create lasting change. We often prioritize immediate rewards over delayed benefits, a phenomenon psychologists call "temporal discounting." This made perfect evolutionary sense when immediate threats dominated our ancestors' lives, but it can create a significant barrier to preparation in modern contexts. When an athlete faces the choice between jumping straight into performance (immediate gratification) or spending 20 minutes on a proper warmup (delayed benefit), they often naturally gravitate toward the immediate option. The same mechanism can affect business leaders who choose to address urgent emails rather than engage in strategic planning. Perhaps the most insidious barrier to preparation is the invisibility of its benefits. When preparation works perfectly, the result often looks like "nothing happened." The athlete who doesn't get injured receives no celebration. The business initiative that unfolds smoothly generates no dramatic stories. Contrast this with the visible, measurable outcomes of recovery or crisis management. The athlete who returns from injury gets praised for their comeback. The executive who saves a failing project becomes the hero. Our brains often struggle to attribute positive outcomes to preparation because the causal relationship is less obvious. When you think about it, we've created a weird reward system here—a system where the heroes are the ones who swoop in and fix problems, not those who quietly prevent them from happening in the first place. Reactive measures get all the glory and recognition, while proactive work often goes completely unnoticed. It's backwards, right? We're celebrating the more expensive, less efficient approach while ignoring the smarter, more cost-effective one. Perhaps most surprising is how experience can often exacerbate rather than mitigate preparation avoidance. Past success can create a dangerous form of overconfidence. The executive who has successfully led projects thinks, "I know how to do this," just as the veteran athlete believes, "My body knows what to do." This can create a dangerous zone where skill meets complacency, and often with costly consequences. Understanding these psychological barriers allows us to design more effective approaches to preparation. Rather than relying on willpower or awareness, we may need to redesign the preparation experience itself. The key insight from my work with athletes is that preparation must become appealing rather than obligatory. That's why I'm focused on transforming warmup from a clinical, tedious requirement into an engaging, confidence-boosting experience that athletes actually want to do. This approach translates directly to business settings. Forward-thinking organizations can build preparation into their cultures and encourage practices that trigger positive emotions rather than feelings of obligation. I've noticed some companies have created pre-project planning phases designed to make strategic thinking more appealing than reactive tasking. So here's the challenge: What's the one area in your career or business where you know you should be preparing more, but aren't? Take a minute to identify it, then ask yourself which of these psychological barriers is holding you back. Is it the allure of immediate rewards? The invisible benefits? Or maybe past success has made you overconfident? Rather than relying solely on willpower, consider how you might redesign your approach. How could you transform preparation from a draining obligation into something that actually energizes and motivates you? I think the future belongs to those who prepare for it effectively—not just because preparation is logically sound, but because it unleashes a competitive advantage and significant confidence that can enable you to hit your peak performance. Forbes Business Council is the foremost growth and networking organization for business owners and leaders. Do I qualify?
