Soccer Stars Cobi Jones And Alex Morgan Bring DePuy Mitek-Sponsored Sports Injury Prevention Program Home To Southern California

RAYNHAM, Mass., Oct. 12, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- As an official sports medicine sponsor of the 2014 FIFA World Cup™, DePuy Mitek has launched a national Sports Injury Prevention Program, which includes FIFA's 11+, to educate parents, coaches and young athletes about the importance of preventing sports-related injuries. Soccer stars Cobi Jones, three-time FIFA World Cup™ participant, former Olympian and former player for the Los Angeles Galaxy, and Alex Morgan, member of the 2012 U.S. Women's National Team that won gold at the London Olympics and Diamond Bar native, along with current and former members of the Men's and Women's National Teams are working with the Sports Injury Prevention Program to share strategies for preventing injuries and provide hands-on injury prevention tips at educational soccer clinics around the country. Southern California clinics are taking place in Irvine and San Diego.

"After I suffered a labral tear in my hip while playing soccer, I realized that many sports-related injuries can be prevented," said Jones. "The Sports Injury Prevention Program – including FIFA's 11+ – is special to me, because these are all the moves I've done in my career with the National Team and with the Galaxy. But now, the warm-up has been put together in a nice series where young athletes, parents and coaches can know that this is what you need to do to prevent injuries, and I'm excited to share this program with athletes in my home state."

FIFA 11+, the cornerstone of the Sports Injury Prevention Program, is a warm-up program designed to reduce injuries among athletes aged 14 years and older. FIFA 11+ leverages the body's natural defense mechanisms to help athletes become more resistant to injuries by teaching preventive techniques — such as how to properly jump or land. Published scientific studies have evaluated FIFA 11+'s effectiveness and found that teams performing the FIFA 11+ at least twice a week had 30-50 percent fewer injured players.^1,2

As part of the Sports Injury Prevention Program, DePuy Mitek is sponsoring free educational clinics in more than 15 U.S. cities, and at the most recent stops on the program tour, Alex Morgan and her U.S. National Team and London Olympics teammate, Shannon Boxx, and Drs. Christopher Behr and David Gazzaniga are giving young Southern California-area soccer players, and their parents and coaches, a hands-on opportunity to learn more about injury prevention and treatment. At the clinics, Alex Morgan and Shannon Boxx are sharing injury prevention tips and techniques based on FIFA 11+, and Drs. Christopher Behr with the San Diego Orthopaedics Association and David Gazzaniga with the Newport Orthopedic Institute are answering injury prevention-related questions and encouraging parents and coaches to put an emphasis on seeking medical attention if an injury occurs.

"DePuy Mitek has a long-standing commitment to education and community outreach in injury prevention awareness, and we are pleased to bring our Injury Prevention Program to young athletes, parents and coaches in Southern California," said Ian Lawson, President of DePuy Mitek. "With our interactive soccer clinics in Irvine, San Diego and other cities in the U.S. as well as our online program tools, we hope to help young athletes prevent injuries and keep them in the game."

For more information on sports injury prevention, including information about the FIFA 11+ techniques, visit the program's Facebook page [www.facebook.com/SportsInjuryPreventionProgram], Twitter handle [www.twitter.com/@MitekSportsMed] or YouTube channel [http://www.youtube.com/SportsInjuryPrevent1], or check out FIFA's 11+ website [http://f-marc.com/11plus/home/].

About DePuy Mitek
At DePuy Mitek we are passionate about getting patients back to their passion. As a global leader in orthopaedic sports medicine, we develop minimally invasive devices and non surgical products used in the treatment of joint injuries related to sports and physical activity. DePuy Mitek is part of DePuy Synthes Companies of Johnson & Johnson, the largest provider of orthopaedic and neurological solutions in the world. For more information visit, www.depuysynthes.com.

Alex Morgan, Cobi Jones and Shannon Boxx are compensated by DePuy Mitek, the sponsor of the Sports Injury Prevention Program.

The third-party trademarks used herein are trademarks of their respective owners.

¹ Junge A, Lamprecht M, Stamm H, Hasler H, Bizzini M, Tschopp M, Reuter H, Wyss H, Chilvers C, Dvorak J. Country-wide campaign to prevent football injuries in Swiss amateur players. Am J Sports Med 2010 Oct 17.

² Soligard T, Myklebust G, Steffen K, Holme I, Silvers H, Bizzini M, Junge A, Dvorak J, Bahr R, Andersen TE. Comprehensive warm-up programme to prevent injuries in young female footballers: cluster randomised controlled trial. BMJ 2008;337:a2469.

SOURCE DePuy Mitek