Rickie Lambert has backed a major new initiative aimed at understanding why some sports injuries develop into debilitating osteoarthritis in later life.

Researchers at the University of Southampton are part of the £3m Arthritis Research UK Centre for Sport, Exercise and Osteoarthritis which hopes to reduce the impact of injuries caused by playing sport in both elite and recreational sports players.

They aim to develop better injury prevention and treatment methods, and create screening tools which can predict an individual’s risk of developing osteoarthritis as a result of sports injury.

The Southampton arm of the centre will specifically target young footballers at risk of a common type of groin and hip pain, which can cut short careers, and potentially lead to osteoarthritis in later life.

They will be working with Saints and other clubs to design targeted training programmes aimed at reducing the incidence of injuries among academy and first team players.

Lambert, who has experienced hip pain but has managed it successfully through exercise, said: “Hip pain is one of the most common injuries amongst footballers, and some players have to retire early if they don’t get the correct treatment.

"I’ve been very lucky at my club; I’ve got certain exercises I do that have helped me and improve the problems I’ve had.

He added: “Making sure young footballers get the right treatment in their teens is massively important and will improve their chances of succeeding in the game. If these problems can be picked up early by automatic testing, the better for everyone.

"On behalf of all professional footballers I’d like to show my support for the new centre’s research.”

Maria Stokes, Professor of Musculoskeletal Rehabilitation at the University of Southampton who is leading the Southampton arm of the seven-site centre said: “More than 80 per cent of footballers have a problem which can cause hip or groin pain during their careers.

"Young footballers are at particular risk from a potentially career-ending form of injury to the hip and groin called femoroacetabular impingement (FAI).

"We don’t know the cause of this problem, but over-training as the bones are developing may play a role.”

Researchers will investigate the effects of FAI in young footballers from the ages of nine.

They will take players into the biomechanics laboratory at the university and make precise measurements of their movements during various activities such as kicking a ball, using state-of-the-art 3-D technology.