Serial Movement Assessment in Collegiate Athletes Who Perform Injury Prevention Training

Serial Movement Assessment in Athletes Who Perform Injury Prevention Training

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.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Injury;Sports; Injury, Knee; Injury, Ankle; Injury Leg
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Exercise-based injury prevention program

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.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 62
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Vermont
    • Johnson, Vermont, United States, 05665
      • Northern Vermont University

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years to 24 years (Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

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 Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

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

Number of Arms

1

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Injury Prevention Arm; exercise-based neuromuscular training injury prevention program	Other: Exercise-based injury prevention program; ~10-minute, 4+ times/week exercise-based injury prevention program. Includes flexibility, strengthening, balance, agility and plyometric exercises.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

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

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Northern Vermont University
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Eleanor Beltz, PhD, ATC, Northern Vermont University

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): August 17, 2021
• Primary Completion (Actual): March 29, 2022
• Study Completion (Actual): March 29, 2022

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: January 31, 2021
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: February 8, 2021
• First Posted (Actual): February 10, 2021

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): April 1, 2024
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 29, 2024
• Last Verified: March 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: injury prevention; sport injury; neuromuscular control
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Leg Injuries; Wounds and Injuries; Ankle Injuries; Athletic Injuries; Knee Injuries
• Other Study ID Numbers: Beltz FAW2122 NMC PTP

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No