IN THE LATEST INSTALMENT OF BACKROOM BOYS, HEAD OF THE MEDICAL DEPARTMENT STEVE KEMP LOOKS AT SOME OF THE PROGRESS AND STUDIES CARRIED OUT BY STAFF AWAY FROM THEIR DAY-TO-DAY WORK WITH THE PLAYERS.

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As we approach the end of the season, I feel it would be informative to reflect on some of the training and qualifications pursued by the medical and fitness and conditioning staff away from their work with the players.

We've gone into detail previously about all the investment the club has made into the departments as well as the achievements produced in the fields of sports science and rehabilitation.

But there are also plenty of other activities going on behind the scenes to the benefit of the club.

We are fortunate enough to have a department who are all highly motivated and keen to improve their own knowledge and experience via further studying and courses to ensure that the Wolves Medical Department remains at the cutting edge of Sports Medicine.

We regularly hold courses at the training ground inviting lecturers from all over the world to come and discuss various topics from cruciate injuries to muscle imbalance so that we're all up to date on all the latest news and techniques.

That's for us as a department to learn from whilst we also invite other clubs in such as Aston Villa, Birmingham, Burnley and Stoke which has proved very successful.

We've got another course planned in the summer with some highly regarded specialists lecturing to us on some of the latest techniques being used in the NBA and  NFL, which we are hoping will transfer to professional football. 

We also visited San Antonio in Texas last summer to attend a large conference which proved extremely valuable.  We are well aware that as well as we think we might be doing that there is always things to learn, and by attending these types of conferences regularly we are more likely to keep right up-to-date with the latest techniques and developments in the ever changing world of Sport Medicine. 

In addition to this is the individual learning carried out by members of the backroom staff. 

Almost all of the staff have gone on to study to Masters or PhD level and produce research as part of this study.  This research is an integral part of their course, but also is fundamental in moving Sport and Exercise Science forward. It is this research which when published will allow us to improve our practice and hopefully lead to improved performance and eventually one would hope on field success. 

Just in the last season,  Fitness and Conditioning Coach Tony Daley completed a Masters in Sports Science, which he received from Wolverhampton University recently (pictured), and is about to get his thesis published on training loads in professional football.

John Iga, who has got a PhD in Exercise Physiology and has also already published a number of papers in Sports Science, has continued to publish leading some of the country's research on quadriceps and hamstring isokinetics testing in professional football. 

Kevin Enright, one of our Sports Science interns, is working on the benefits of Olympic weight lifting in professional footballers during the season.

On the physiotherapy side Phil Hayward is currently completing a Masters in Manual Therapy, and will start his research next season, whilst I regularly take Masters students who are completing their Manual Therapy degrees. 

And, as we approach the end of the season I am pleased to report that our record on injuries during the campaign has been very positive. 

We've seen a drop in soft tissue injuries this year and a general decrease in problems with the exception of a number of impact injuries which have led to surgery.

It's difficult to pinpoint one factor behind this statistic - it's not just down to the prehab, or sports science or recovery.

It's more of a team effort, a combination of many different factors and the result of the work carried out by all the department who have shown just how much their jobs mean to them and how passionate they are at being successful at what they do.   

It is also testament to the work put in by the players away from the pitch and the training field - they have  taken on board all the additional advice available to them and in doing so have reaped the benefits.

With two games to go, touch wood, we are very happy with how things have gone, and hope this will continue into a quiet off-season and the 2010/11 campaign!