Bone Growth in Young Footballers
Bone Growth in Young Footballers
The excellent facilities and expertise at both IMAR and the Centre for Anatomy and Human Identification (CAHID) have joined forces to unveil the mystery surrounding the effect of sustained training in young football players on the bone growth plates.
In addition, Rangers Football Club and their Youth Academy at Murray Park are major collaborators in allowing us access to their young and adult players for biomechanical assessment and foot pressure analysis. The scientific literature is weak in this area, particularly on young footballers, and we are currently on year three of this continuous study assessing the young players as they progress and develop through their careers. This longitudinal study is unique and is hoped to yield key scientific information and at the same time provide baseline biomechanical information for the players. This research could not have been possible without the collaboration and support from Rangers Football Club, the University of Dundee Institute of Sports and Exercise and the NHS Medical Physics Department.
Ashley Stephen (joint PhD student between CAHID, IMAR and ISE) was awarded the best student poster at the Society of the Study of Human Biology symposium held at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. Ashley is looking at the effect of targeted sports activity on the growth plate. This was a prestigious meeting as it celebrated the career of Jim Tanner who was the UK's leading auxologist. “The Use of 3D MRI Technologyin the Evaluation of the Growth Plates of the Knee and Ankle”. Society for the Study of Human Biology - The Human Biology of Jim Tanner, 13th - 15th December 2011, Cambridge, UK. A Stephen, R J Abboud, B Ewing, B Oliver, S Black. This paper won the Best Poster Award.
