Research in real-life: Unravelling what injury prevention strategies really works in practice with Nicol van Dyk

This week’s guest on the Pacey Performance Podcast is Nicol van Dyk, injury surveillance and medical research officer with the Irish Rugby Football Union. Having been at the IRFU since 2019, Nicol is here to talk about injury screening, injury prevention and specifically the Nordic hamstring exercise. With Rob, he discusses why first-hand coaching experience is highly beneficial when undertaking academic research, and his own personal four-step injury screening protocol. As part of this discussion, Nicol explains when interventions need to take place, the risk factors involved with injury screening, and how to identify athletes at a higher or lower risk of injury. There’s also some insight into Nicol’s overall philosophy for injury prevention. In-keeping with recent trending topics within the industry, there’s also some discussion into Nordics, the risks involved with them, and the athletes that the Nordic hamstring exercise isn’t necessarily effective for. There’s also some signposting into where we can find out more about Nicol’s research, and what he’s going to be doing next. For all this and much more, hit the play button now. This week’s topics: Nicol’s four-step Injury screening protocol with the IRFU Interventions and identifying risk factors Identifying athletes at high or lower risk of injury What triggers an intervention for rugby union players during testing What triggers an intervention for other sports Nicol’s overall philosophy for injury prevention The questions surrounding the phrase ‘injury prevention’ Nicol’s opinion on Nordics, and whether there’s a risk involved Athletes that Nordics are not effective for