The Effect of Movement Education on Jumping/Landing Quality in High School Athletes: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Successful models of injury prevention in occupational health settings focus largely on motor skill education for employees. Sports-related injury prevention programs lack this critical component. This research question is being asked to help inform the development of a comprehensive implementation strategy for a high school sports injury prevention program.

The Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) Sports Safety ACL Program is a unique, public health approach to ACL injury risk management. The program offers pioneering education to those directly responsible for the safety of young athletes. The program offers diverse educational opportunities and innovative risk management resources directly to coaches, parents, administrators, and young athletes. The program has already held over 200 live workshops, teaching coaches, parents and young athletes how to identify injury risk factors and how the relationship between movement quality and sports performance impacts injury rates. Though several research studies have been conducted with the HSS Sport Safety Program, this study is the first to evaluate the association between athlete motor learning and movement quality.

Currently anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury prevention programs focus on clinicians and coaches leading a series of neuromuscular training exercises repeatedly throughout a sports season to improve athlete strength, balance, flexibility, and agility. While this has shown been shown to be effective in controlled research settings, there have been many problems with implementation, including low compliance. Hartigan et al recently conducted a study showing that athletes had improved jumping and landing technique after viewing video feedback. This is evidence that movement education/feedback has the ability to affect motor skills. Demonstrating an association between motor skill education and improved movement quality would allow the responsibility of ACL injury prevention to be more readily shared by both sports medicine clinicians and athletes.

This evidence would provide support for the public health approach to ACL injury risk management on which the HSS Sport Safety Program was based. In addition, providing solid evidence of the program's success will make the program more marketable to schools, clubs, and other sports groups nationally and internationally.