Source: Team_Talk
Brukner out to minimise Reds' injuries
iverpool's new head of sports science Dr Peter Brukner hopes to be able to keep the likes of Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard injury-free. [LNB] The Australian, who officially takes up his post after travelling to the World Cup with the Socceroos, intends to introduce new techniques when he returns to Melwood.[LNB]Liverpool were badly hit by injuries during the 2009/10 season with Torres, Gerrard , Martin Skrtel, Glen Johnson, Yossi Benayoun, Fabio Aurelio, Emiliano Insua, Daniel Agger, Alberto Aquilani and Javier Mascherano all sidelined for varying lengths of time.[LNB]That undoubtedly impacted on a campaign which produced the club's worst Premier League finish for 11 years - seventh - but Brukner hopes to be able to keep injuries to a minimum next season.[LNB]"The players will notice an immediate difference come the start of the 2010/11 season," said Liverpool's head of sports medicine and sports science, who plans to divide players into groups depending on their injury history and then target them with specific work.[LNB]"Our plan is for the players to do a 15-minute session before they start training.[LNB]"This will be purely on injury prevention - working on hamstrings, groins, thighs, calves and so on.[LNB]"The other thing we'll be doing more of is monitoring their general well-being, health and workload.[LNB]"We'll be able to modify their programmes depending on how much they play and how quickly they recover.[LNB]"You can't stop all injuries. There are certain injuries which are inevitable - like when someone gets a kick or something.[LNB]"But I think we can certainly reduce the amount of injuries - particularly what we call soft-tissue injuries.[LNB]"Things like hamstring muscle, groin muscle, calf muscle and tears."
