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Overview of Injury-Prevention Warm-Up Programmes

ing,’ ‘injury prevention programme,’ FIFA 11+, RAMP, implementation,
adherence) alongside combat-sport-related terms (e.g., ‘combat sports,’
‘martial arts,’ grappling, striking, wrestling, judo, ‘Brazilian jiu-jitsu,’ box-
ing, karate, taekwondo, and kickboxing).

Selection and Synthesis
Sources were prioritised if they addressed:

1. structured warm-up or neuromuscular injury-prevention program-
mes in sport,
2. general frameworks for warm-up progression and exercise selec-
tion, and/or
3. implementation-related factors such as feasibility, adherence, coach-
led delivery, time demands, and contextual fit.
A high-level programme comparison table was used to summarise key
characteristics across protocols, including target sport or discipline type,
structure and duration, content emphasis, equipment and partner re-
quirements, and level of supporting evidence.

Scope and Limitations
This contribution does not constitute a formal systematic review and
therefore does not aim to provide exhaustive coverage of all warm-up
or injury-prevention research. Instead, it focuses on protocols that are
widely disseminated, systematically developed, or frequently cited in re-
lation to combat sports, as well as on principles that are particularly rel-
evant for practical implementation. Because the evidence base differs
between programmes and prospective intervention trials remain limit-
ed for certain protocols, conclusions should be interpreted as evidence-
informed guidance for practice rather than definitive statements regard-
ing injury reduction across all combat-sport contexts.

Results and Discussion
In 2006, the FIFA 11+ programme was developed in response to the in-
creasing incidence of injuries in football. It is a structured preventive
warm-up protocol that incorporates exercises targeting strength, trunk
stabilisation, balance, plyometrics, and running mechanics (Sadigursky
et al., 2017). The programme was subsequently disseminated worldwide
and has become one of the most widely recognised examples of a struc-
tured dynamic warm-up. Research in football consistently reports re-
ductions in injury risk alongside improvements in several performance-

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