A Complex Systems Approach to Injury Prevention Research

Abstract

Sports injury prevention is currently grappling with a game-changing shift. Increasingly, it is recognised that injury prevention is complex. Disappointingly, many well designed interventions prove ineffective in injury reduction when removed from controlled settings and inserted into real world contexts. These failures have lead to an understanding and that we need to look to different ‘ways of knowing’ in injury prevention research. This talk will discuss the understanding and implications of complexity theory for sports injury research, and will propose alternative approaches that acknowledge complexity and as such may be more fit for purpose.