Any bloke I had who was suffering from op, worked on thier lower limbs to establish control in the later stages of return to play.

It just never seems to work. Operations don't work to fix it. Rest doesn't work. Physio doesn't work. The cause of this repetitive strain injury (analagous to tennis elbow etc), which is expressed as inflammation of the tendinous insertion of the lower abdominal musculature to the symphysis pubis, must be found. When it is, prevention will be more effective than cure.

Australian football requires endurance running, as well as speed. Doing weights with the legs helps the latter, but is detrimental to the former.

from my professional source (a physio who worked with the geelong football club for a bit) there is a large degree of correlation between weak 'core strength' and groin injuries, and other leg soft tissue injuries (hammys in particular). i am not sure if this extends to OP, but it would make sense if it did in some way. i think there are a number of points here: the players need to have the muscle strength and endurance to be able to withstand the forces required (long distance running, sprinting, and kicking). the core strength must be strong enough that it can support itself, and the groins and hips are not balancing the body excessively. players must be given adequate rest to prevent the onset of OP. ie hours and hours of kicking practice on top of running and agility work, followed by weights sessions, will probably lead to OP.

another point i am interested in regarding OP is the types of players that get it. midfielders mainly, but also hard running (large engine) talls (mostly forwards). perhaps because their bodies are not condition to the running like a midfielders body is.

from my professional source (a physio who worked with the geelong football club for a bit) there is a large degree of correlation between weak 'core strength' and groin injuries, and other leg soft tissue injuries (hammys in particular). i am not sure if this extends to OP, but it would make sense if it did in some way. i think there are a number of points here: the players need to have the muscle strength and endurance to be able to withstand the forces required (long distance running, sprinting, and kicking). the core strength must be strong enough that it can support itself, and the groins and hips are not balancing the body excessively. players must be given adequate rest to prevent the onset of OP. ie hours and hours of kicking practice on top of running and agility work, followed by weights sessions, will probably lead to OP.

another point i am interested in regarding OP is the types of players that get it. midfielders mainly, but also hard running (large engine) talls (mostly forwards). perhaps because their bodies are not condition to the running like a midfielders body is.

Yep you're right!

That's where u need a fitness advisor who takes all of it into account.

There's no real correlation as to who gets it more - some blokes will be top heavy build wise and their lower limbs cant handle the amount they have to carry for their age.

Others just don't have any control of their core area, leading to a delay in TVA which can lead to OP and most of them go home, slouch on the couch, or in their seat at school and have poor posture because of it.

A good physio or exercise physiologist will help retrain the core muscles, surgery is usually a last option. not sure how one can say prevention is more effective than cure once someone has it, but a structured physical preparation program covering core, weights and appropriate athletic conditioning methods should be suffice. if you do your weights properly, then the core muscles should be the first to switch on to help stabilise the body- you can test ureself when u walk and feel it activate by having your hands near ure hips and feeling ure tummy wall tighten.

Squats and lunges are 2 of the most important lower limb exercises to help establish proper muscle function of the lower limbs. how can one get faster or learn to stabilse them selves around the hip region if they can not perform these adequately?

rest does work as it reduces the amount of inflammation in the area - its usually only a tempory measure though as once they bump their training load back up, you get inflammation back into the area. hence the need for retraining of the muscles or surgery if the problem persists.

I'm sure each player gets body screened each year or more often so they can prevent these from happening. all prospective draftees do if they attend the AIS camp.

Players who have it also need to be on a limited kicking program, as kicking across the body doesn't help the problem once diagnosed with it.

Weight training of the lower limbs helps with conditioning the body to handle stress through the lower limbs as well as ligament and joint stability. too many players get too top heavy, putting stress through the lower limbs and end up not having the strength base to handle the loads imposed.

I'm sorry i just cant see how banning lower limb weight training will not cause op. please dont tell me u only get ure players to do upper body weights only, especially when injured in the lower limb regions- that would be a problem within itself of trying to get rid of such issues as op.

Remember - train the movement not the repetition, as repetition is trained by movement!

Can we please rid ourselves of our "Physical Preparation Manager" (a joke of a job title) and sack Bohdan Babijczuk?

I understand that Dean has a number of his own people in mind to set up the footy department.

I understand that Dean has a number of his own people in mind to set up the footy department.

That is great news!!!! Looking to him to sort out MFC onfield and support staff. Fitness strategy right up there with the run and carry game plan as top clangers of 2007!