Preventative Health at Lillestrom Sports Club (LSK)
Geir Kaasene, Physical trainer and physiotherapist, LSK
Ola Eide, Director of Research, BioActive Foods AS

Summary
Much illness and many injuries in the group of players during the preparation for the 2008/2009 season made Lillestrøm Sports Club start up a Preventative Health programme in October 2009.

 

The objective was to control both quality and quantity of the food that the players use to produce energy for movement and maintenance and to produce building materials for physical and psychological maintenance of the body. Targeted dietary adjustment was achieved through common breakfast and lunch for the group of players, plus the obligatory use of BalanceOil.

 

The effect of the measures has been remarkable. On comparing the preparation period for the 2009/2010 season with the same period in 2008/2009 (November-April), absence due to illness fell by 85 %, while absence due to injury fell by 57 %. All in all, this has given the group of players an extra 42 days per month to train together.

 

In said period, the group of players also demonstrated a clear improvement in results of a physical test, although this is not directly attributed to the effect of Preventative Health. Blood tests from the players showed that the blood values during the period changed from a clear Omega-6 dominance to a balanced distribution between the vital Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids. This strengthens the body’s capacity to repair injuries and to resist disease.

 

Individual players who initially had extremely unfavourable blood values during the period were adjusted to better than the average values for the whole of the group of players. The group of players’ protection against the development of lifestyle diseases increased from 26 % to 74 % during the period from November 2009 to April 2010.