Researchers from England and Italy tested the “FIFA 11+” warm-up program — created primarily to prevent knee and leg injuries in soccer — on young male players for an elite Italian basketball club.

The FIFA 11+ program, which combines running, jumping and stretching exercises, has already been shown to reduce injuries among soccer players. One study of female youth-league soccer players found that it cut injury risk by up to 40 percent.

In the United States alone, more than 30 million children and teens play sports. High-school athletes, alone, account for nearly two million sports-related injuries each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.