Martin Asker

Martin Asker is an Associate Professor in Medical Science at the Department of Health Promotion, Sophiahemmet University. A licensed naprapath with over 20 years of experience in sports medicine, his work focuses on preventing sports injuries in youth athletes, particularly in handball and football. He leads the Swedish Handball Cohort (SHC) studying injury prevention strategies and has pioneered the Karolinska Handball Study (KHAST) tracking shoulder injuries in adolescent elite players.

His research emphasizes secondary prevention of musculoskeletal issues arising from adolescent sports participation. Key projects include evaluating the efficacy of shoulder and knee exercise programs (KHAST trial) and investigating dietary habits' impact on injury rates in youth athletes. He has secured over SEK 15 million in grants and authored multiple peer-reviewed articles in high-impact journals like Br J Sports Med and J Orthop Sports Phys Ther.

• Member of the Handball Research Group and steering committee at Centrum för Idrottsskadeforskning och Utbildning (Karolinska Institutet)
• Presented at 50+ international sports medicine conferences
• Collaboration with five universities on the Karolinska Football Injury Cohort (KIC)

His work bridges clinical practice and research, addressing both injury mechanisms and rehabilitation protocols. Current studies explore psychological factors (e.g., sleep deprivation) as injury correlates in female soccer players and normative values for athletic performance metrics in adolescent footballers.