SIPRC

Sport Injury Prevention Research Group

Our Program

The University of Calgary Sport Medicine Centre is an integrated academic and clinical unit which has been providing service to the community of Calgary for almost two decades. There is an experienced multidisciplinary team with clinical and research expertise that has garnered an international reputation in all aspects of sport medicine. Over the past 15 years we have developed a unified group of researchers and clinicians with the common goal of injury prevention. We have established a research team and structure called the "Sport Injury Prevention Research Centre" (SIPRC). As part of this initiative, we have built this multidisciplinary team with representatives from the fields of epidemiology, biostatistics, orthopaedic surgery, sport medicine, physical therapy, athletic therapy, biomechanics, mechanical engineering, bone and joint health science, health economics, health psychology, sociology and public health policy. This team has focused on epidemiologic studies as well as developing and implementing new intervention strategies to prevent injuries in child and adolescent sport. Through a large survey we have established target youth sport populations (i.e. soccer, hockey, basketball, snowboarding) and the most common injuries (i.e. ankle, knee, concussion) for future research priorities. These prevention strategies will be implemented to have the greatest population health impact. In the past year we have validated injury surveillance and examined risk factors for injury in minor hockey and community soccer. We have also demonstrated the effectiveness of a sport-specific injury prevention strategy in high school basketball.