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  • Q&A with Australian Health Practitioners

    How long should I warm up to help prevent a sports related injury?

    Related Topic
    Sports Injuries & Prevention
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  • Jonathan Harris

    Physiotherapist

    Jonathan Harris is a Titled Sports and Musculoskeletal Physiotherapist having achieved Master Degrees in both fields. As well as his undergraduate Physiotherapy degree he also … View Profile

    As far as I am aware there is no gold standard here.  I would suggest warming yourself to the point that you have a mildly elevated heart rate and the beginning of light persperation.  This would indicate that your heart is ready to work and has started to stimulate the release of certain chemicals in your bloodstream (which help with exercise) and also that muscles are full of blood and therefore, charged with energy to release when required.  Good luck, jono

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    Brad McGregor

    Exercise Physiologist

    Brad is an exercise physiologist specialising in musculoskeletal rehabilitation. Clients include Workcover Qld, Commonwealth Rehabilitation Services and other private insurers. He has worked with athletes … View Profile

    In my opinion the duration of a warm up isn't as important as the ingredients therein. There is no conclusive evidence that demonstrates a link between static &/or passive flexibility & injury prevention, however there is good evidence to support the injury prevention qualities of a more holistic warm up regime.

    A good format might be:
    1. general aerobic warm up (not specific to the sport)
    2. general stretch (forusing on areas of imbalance, spasm or asymmetry)
    3. specific warm up (utlising energy stsrems & movement patterns that are specific to the sport)
    4. specific stretch (incorporating dynamic & ballistic patterns that are specific to the sport). 

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  • Mark Brown

    Physiotherapist

    Mark is an APA Sports Physiotherapist with over 25 years experience with a special interest and expertise in performance enhancement and injury prevention. View Profile

    There has been quite a lot of research in recent years relating to injury prevention and warm up especially in relation to sports that incorporate running, jumping and change of direction activities such as cutting and side stepping. While the specific warm up is best if customized to match the demands and actual movements of the actual sport or activity as closely as possible generally a warm up program should incorporate:

    1. Running drills, progressing from slow to faster, and gradually incorporating change of direction, knee lifts or bounding etc.
    2. Balance and body control exercises, which can be progressed gradually from slow speed e.g. catch and through while standing on one leg, up to high speed power activities, e.g. jumping and landing drills including plyometric exercises. Good limb alignment is essential in all these exercises and needs to be maintained at all speeds to improve neuromuscular coordination.
    3. Strengthening exercises such as bridging and hamstring lowers to strengthen and “turn on” the muscles required before sport.
    4. Sports specific exercises gradually increasing speed and range of movement.
    Other research has demonstrated that static stretching temporarily decreases muscle power so if stretching is done at all it should be dynamic in nature. However if you have progressed your warm up exercises as outlined above you should already have been working your muscles in the range required for your sport. An effective warm up based on these principles usually takes about 20-30 minutes.

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