CJSM Podcast #9: A Conversation with Australia’s Dr. Alexander Donaldson

FootyFirst:  that’s the subject of our newest podcast.

Australian Rules football (AKA ‘Footy’) is big sport Down Under:  by some measures it is the country’s most popular sport.  Footy is played on the professional level–the Australian Football League (AFL) season is fully under way.  It is also played by many on the community level, and the injury rate is apparently rather high.

The May 2015 CJSM has as one of its “Editor’s Picks” new research on injury prevention in community Footy, coming to us from the Australian Centre for Research Into Injury in Sport and Its Prevention (ACRISP).  Lead author Dr. Alexander Donaldson and the ACRISP team have been conducting on-going research into establishing an intervention to reduce lower limb injuries in the sport; the exercise program is known as “FootyFirst.”

I came away from this podcast having learned a lot from Dr. Donaldson:  about injury prevention, about FootyFirst, and about Footy.  For a guy who used to think of “Arena Football League” when he heard the term “AFL”; a guy who thought of Brad Wing when he thought of Footy…..well, let’s just say, I think I’ve come a long way.

I know I’m already looking forward to getting to the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground) some day to see a game!  You’ll feel the same way when you listen to the podcast or read the blog post interview I conducted with Dr. Donaldson.  And for a limited time, this “Editor’s Pick” is freely available on our website:  check it out.

Injury prevention, that’s the name of the game in sports medicine: whether it is the AFL (Footy) or the AFL (Arena Football)!  So click on this link to hear our conversation with Dr. Donaldson, or go to iTunes to download the podcast. Enjoy!