Certificate in Soccer Injury Prevention and Return to Play

• Led by Dr. Hilary Obert.
• Introduction to epidemiology and key injury types evident within team sports, particularly soccer.
• Understand how injuries occur and manifest themselves within the game across all levels.
• The importance of maximising training availability and direct specific training interventions to maintain a healthy, fit and functioning group of players.

• Led by Dr. Victor Salinas Paalcios.
• How to implement injury prevention programmes in a sporting context.
• Evidence around injury prevention programmes.
• Specific frameworks in the soccer environment and how we can control key variables.

• Led by Dr. Juan Carlos Ramos.
• Explore the injury prevention and rehabilitation processes used within a soccer club.
• A case study with one of the world’s biggest clubs in terms of the processes.
• Definition of injury.
• Frequency and importance of injury prevention from a club standpoint.
• Development of training programmes for the reduction of injury risk and the role rehabilitation plays in this process.

• Led by Dr. Patrick Orme.
• Highlight soccer-specific injury prevention methods that have been positively used within a team sport environment and elite level soccer club.
• Factors and ways of reducing the injury risk to players.
• The role of scheduling and planning within soccer and the impact on player health and well-being.

• Led by Dr. Hilary Obert.
• How screening and implementation of corrective exercises can maximise and reduce the injury risks among athletes.
• Individual programme development and linking injury prevention corrective programmes back to the screening process to highlight key deficiencies with biomechanical content.

• Led by Faisal Alshawa.
• Understand how to fuel and maximise the recovery of players.
• The role nutrition plays in the injury and rehabilitation phases.
• Food types and nutrition for injury phases – what we can control, influencing inflammation, muscle loss and regeneration.

• Led by Aleksa Boskovic.
• Integrated approach to injury prevention, strategies and methods that have a positive influence.
• How many elements of physical performance can influence the injury risk to players?
• Understand where elements fit together to minimise risk.

• Led by Jorge David Mora Anzola.
• Understanding the injured athlete and its importance to the rehabilitation state based on the psychological consequences that can be generated through injury.
• Multidisciplinary working approach is vitally important.
• Role of the coach in the injury stages.

• Led by Aleksa Boskovic.
• Overview of the rehabilitation and build up phase for return to play.
• Improving the efficiency of the player and the importance of developing the movement qualities of the athlete.
• Influencing mobility, core development and lower body activation specific to the demands of the game.

• Led by Dr. Adam Owen.
• Practical examples of strength training and movement efficiency.
• Specific training load management.
• High-performance settings and philosophy.
• Specific indicators of injury reduction and risk factors from a coach-centred perspective.
• Internal and external scientific principles meets practice.
• Exposing specific microcycle tapering strategies from a research-based perspective in a team sport context.

• Led by Dr. Felix Fischer.
• Examples of specific return to play criteria following a common injury type known as Anterior-cruciate ligament injury (ACL).
• Knee injuries in soccer.
• Return to play criteria used.
• The science behind the process.
• Simple battery test used for the return to play.

• Led by Matthew Newton.
• The return to play process post-injury phase.
• RTP process in modern day elite level of the game using data and information to maximise the rehabilitation stage.
• How the match-play demands are linked to the rehabilitation process.
• The creation of player and positional-specific RTP drills from a practical standpoint.

Once enrolled, you have six months to complete your studies.

You will study this course by distance learning, which will enable you to learn when and where you want. You can study from home or at work, it is completely up to you. All your materials will be delivered online.

Upon successful completion of the course, you will achieve a Certificate in Soccer Injury, Prevention, and Return to Play.

You will complete eight individual tasks which are based on what you have studied during the 12 modules. You will submit your assignments via the learning portal and receive feedback from a member of the team.