Serial Movement Assessment in Collegiate Athletes Who Perform Injury Prevention Training

Not Applicable

Completed

Conditions: Injury Leg
Injury;Sports
Injury, Ankle
Injury, Knee

Registration Number: NCT04748718

Lead Sponsor: Northern Vermont University

Brief Summary: Athletic injury can result in decreased athletic performance or removal from sport participation. There may also be psychological and financial impacts of athletic injury. Additionally, there can be long-term consequences, such as increased risk of subsequent injury or arthritis. Therefore, determining ways to prevent athletic injury from occurring is critical. Movement quality during sport is related to injury risk. Athletes who move poorly are generally at increased risk of injury compared to athletes who move well. Movement quality can be improved through exercise-based injury prevention training, thereby decreasing injury risk. This purposed of this study is to evaluate movement quality multiple times over the course of an athletic season in collegiate athletes who perform injury prevention training. The hypothesis is that movement quality will improve over the course of an athletic season.

Detailed Description: Neuromuscular control, or quality of movement, during sport is related to injury risk. Athletes who move poorly are generally at increased risk of injury compared to athletes who move well. Neuromuscular control can be improved through exercise-based injury prevention training (called preventive training programs, or PTPs), thereby decreasing injury risk. Neuromuscular control is dynamic and therefore should be evaluated regularly; however, no study has serially evaluated neuromuscular control in athletes who perform PTPs. The overall objective of the proposed study is to longitudinally evaluate multiple aspects of neuromuscular control (i.e., movement quality, balance) across several time points during a single athletic season in collegiate athletes who perform PTPs. Therefore, two specific aims are proposed: Specific Aim 1: Evaluate neuromuscular control at multiple time points during an athletic season in collegiate athletes who perform PTPs. Specific Aim 2: Evaluate multiple measures of neuromuscular control over the course of an athletic season in collegiate athletes who perform PTPs. A field-based, experimental, cohort study will be used to address both specific aims. Subjects will be recruited from NCAA-Division III men's and women's soccer, volleyball and basketball teams. Neuromuscular control will be assessed four times during the athletic season using the Landing Error Scoring System (LESS), the Balance Error Scoring System (BESS), and the Star Excursion Balance Test (SEBT). The LESS evaluates movement quality, while the BESS and the SEBT evaluate static and dynamic balance, respectively. Subjects will perform PTPs for about 10 minutes/day, at least 4 days/week.

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status: COMPLETED

Sex: All

Target Recruitment: 62

Inclusion Criteria

National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) Division III Athlete
Coach and athletic trainer elect to receive injury prevention services
Ages 18-24

Exclusion Criteria

-Does not participate on NCAA Division III Athletic Team

Study & Design

Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL

Study Design: SINGLE_GROUP

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Landing Error Scoring System (LESS) Score	assessing change over 3 timepoints: baseline (week 0), midseason (weeks 4-6), end-of-season (weeks 10-12)	number of errors; scale is 0-17; lower score indicates better outcome
Balance Error Scoring System (BESS) Score	assessing change over 3 timepoints: baseline (week 0), midseason (weeks 4-6), end-of-season (weeks 10-12)	number of errors; scale is 0-60; higher score indicates worse outcome

Secondary Outcome Measures