Influence of Proprioceptive Reweighting Ability on Lower-limb Biomechanics During Functional Tasks (NEURIBIO)

November 26, 2025 updated by: University Hospital, Brest

Study of the Influence of Proprioceptive Reweighting Ability on the Lower-extremity Biomechanics During Functional Tasks and Unplanned Sidestep Cutting Manoeuvre

Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries are frequent in handball especially among young players. Recent investigations highlighted the implication of the central nervous system as a potential risk factor for ACL rupture.

The ability to dynamically reweight proprioceptive signals according to postural conditions is crucial for balance control.

The aim of this study is therefore to investigate the influence of proprioceptive reweighting on biomechanical determinants of ACL loads during functional tasks and unplanned side cutting manoeuvers.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Team Handball is a traumatic sport, especially regarding anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries. Young females are more vulnerable as they are 3 to 5 times more likely to sustain an ACL rupture compare to males.

Several anatomical, biomechanical and sensorimotor risk factors have been clearly identified, however the implication of the central nervous system was recently highlighted. Indeed, it has been shown that individuals who will suffer of ACL ruptures exhibited a decreased functional connectivity between brain regions responsible for postural control and sensorimotor processing. Due to the unanticipated situations that occurred during game situations, the role of the brain (i.e neural control) is now advocated to explain sensorimotor errors leading to injuries during complex tasks such as faking an opponent. Muscle vibration is a reliable tool to assess proprioceptive integration during postural control. The ability to shift from one proprioceptive cue to another when postural conditions are changing is crucial. This dynamic reweighting process allow to obtain an optimal postural control. However, recent investigations revealed that this process is altered among symptomatic populations, elderly patients or even under fatigue conditions. More precisely, some individuals seem able to shift proprioceptive reliance while other doesn't. To our knowledge, no studies have investigated the link between proprioceptive reweighting and biomechanical determinants of ACL loads during functional tasks. Thus, the aim of this study is to compare lower-limb biomechanics during unanticipated side cutting manoeuvres and single leg drop vertical jump among young handball players according to their ability to reweight proprioceptive signals.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

41

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • France
    • France
      • Brest, France, France, 29200
        • CHRU Brest

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

15 years to 25 years (Child, Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Aged from 15 to 25 years
  • Intensive training handball practice for at least two years, mastering the technical gesture of unplanned sidestep cutting manoeuvre
  • Training volume of 5 hours minimum per week
  • Signature of the consent (participants and parents for minors)

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Recent osteoarticular pathology (i.e. less than three months) of the lower limbs, whether traumatic or not
  • Unfit to consent or refusal to participate in the study
  • Obvious standing balance disorder or disabling neurological pathology
  • Pain of the musculoskeletal system (joint, tendon or muscle) permanent or during exercise
  • Fatigue (evaluation using the Borg scale) during the clinical examination (> 6) prior to performing the sporting gesture
  • Known skin allergy to any adhesive product

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Basic Science
  • Allocation: N/A
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Other: Healthy volunteers
Handball players
Other: Star Excursion Balance Test
The subject will be in unipodal support (only one foot on the ground) on the tested lower limb in the center of the platform. Three lines forming a "Y" will be arranged according to the lower limb in charge in three directions : anterior (ANT), posteromedial (PM) and posterolateral (PL). The goal is then to reach the longest distance possible in all three directions with the tip of the foot in relief before returning to the starting position. The subject will have 4 training trials per direction on each lower limb then 3 trials will be recorded in order to keep the average.
Other Names:
  • SEBT
Other: Single leg Drop Vertical Jump
The subject will drop from a step and land on one leg, then jump as high as possible and stabilize again on the same leg. The height of the step is 30 cm. The subject will perform 3 consecutive jumps in the strictest respect of the instructions: drop to the level of the mark on the ground and bounce as high as possible while spending a minimum of time on the ground. The subject must stabilize for 3 seconds during the second contact with the ground so that the instructions and measurements are reproducible.
Other Names:
  • SDVJ
Other: Unplanned sidestep cutting manoeuvre

The objective is to create an unanticipated playing situation, close to the daily actions of the subjects in the practice of handball. The subject will make sidestep cutting manœuvre in front of an opponent simulated by a dummy used during usual training.

The subject will sprint in a straight line and then at the force platform will make a rapid change of direction on the side of his shooting arm or will continue his run in a straight line. A light signal randomly will indicate to the player the direction in which he must carry out his manoeuvre. A computer reconstruction of the kinematics and dynamics (knee moment) will be performed.

Other Names:
  • Unplanned change of direction
Other: Tendon vibration
The subject will be asked to stand, motionless in bipodal (both feet on the ground) support on a stable and unstable ground (foam). A tendon vibration (80Hz) will be randomly applied to the subject in the Achilles tendons or paravertebral muscles. This vibration will cause an alteration of proprioceptive information in the vibrated area leading to a disruption of postural balance. Thus, according to the amount of displacement of the center of pressure (CoP), the proprioceptive weighting ratio (dRPW) is calculated to deduce therefrom the weight assigned by the CNS to the various proprioceptive inputs during the postural task.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Knee abduction moment (quantitative measure) during unplanned sidestep cutting manœuvre.
Time Frame: Inclusion
The measurement will be the average of the maximum knee abduction moments when the lower extremity is supported on the pushing leg, over the 5 tests carried out with a sidestep cutting manœuvre.
Inclusion

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Knee abduction moment when landing jumps in the Single leg Drop Vertical Jump.
Time Frame: Inclusion

The measurement will be made on the average of the abduction moments of the knee when landing the jump on the ground.

The subject will perform 3 consecutive jumps in the strictest respect of the instructions.
Inclusion
Star Excursion Balance Test performance.
Time Frame: Inclusion
The value obtained (in centimeters or relative to the length of the lower limb) reflects the dynamic postural performance of the lower limb under load without specificity of a particular joint of the lower limb. The subject will have 4 training trials per direction on each lower limb then 3 trials will be recorded in order to keep the average.
Inclusion
Angles of ankles, knees, hips, orientation of the pelvis during changes of direction.
Time Frame: Inclusion
The angles, in degrees, of ankles, knees, hips and orientation of the pelvis during changes of direction will be determined during the unplanned sidestep cutting manœuvre test by computer reconstruction. The values will allow to compare biomechanicals characteristics according to the proprioceptive profile (plastic subjects vs rigid subjects).
Inclusion
Percentage of subjects with a proprioceptive plastic profile.
Time Frame: Inclusion
A dRPW of 1 indicates 100% use of information from the ankle, while a dRPW of 0 indicates 100% use of information from the hip. It is thus possible to calculate an evolution of this dRPW during the passage from a stable to unstable soil. The "plastic" subjects decreases their dRPW on unstable ground (compared to stable) ("normal" behavior). "Rigid" subjects maintain (or even increase) their dRPW when passing over unstable ground.
Inclusion

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

University Hospital, Brest

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Olivier REMY-NERIS, CHRU Brest

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Helpful Links

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

February 15, 2021

Primary Completion (Actual)

April 16, 2021

Study Completion (Actual)

April 16, 2021

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

January 29, 2021

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 2, 2021

First Posted (Actual)

February 3, 2021

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimated)

December 3, 2025

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

November 26, 2025

Last Verified

January 1, 2022

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 29BRC20.0288 NEURIBIO

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

YES

IPD Plan Description

All collected data that underlie results in a publication

IPD Sharing Time Frame

Data will be available after the publication of result and ending fifteen years following the last visit of the last patient

IPD Sharing Access Criteria

Data access requests will be reviewed by the internal committee of Brest UH. Requestors will be required to sign and complete a data access agreement.

IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type

  • STUDY_PROTOCOL

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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