The behavioural approach (INTERN)

In contemporary sports medicine, bluntly put, an injury risk factor is established and one studies what happens to the injury risk when the risk factor is reduced or expelled from sports. Due to the controlled nature of such studies the results of this approach can rarely be generalized to an actual sports setting, and are seldom adopted by a sports population. A better understanding of different acting behaviours and their relationship with injury risk is needed to truly be able to translate current knowledge to real-life injury prevention. One shoud be aware that studies on real-life injury prevention still rely heavily on preventive measures that are established through biomedical and/or biomechanical research. A serious limitation in such an approach is that one expects that proven preventive measures can be adopted if the determinants and influences of sports-safety behaviours are understood. It is known from studies on lifestyle interventions that altering an individual’s behaviour is the most difficult, if not impossible, task there is. One very promising method in constructing acceptable and evidence-based intervention programmes is the discussed IM protocol. IM maps the path from recognition of a need or problem to the indentification of a behavioural solution. The strenght of IM lies in therein that the end-users and others involved with the intervention program are part of the developmental process. If a health or injury problem is approached in this way potential efficacious and truly effective intervention programmes can be developed.