Knowledge Translation Intervention for ACL Injury Prevention Program in Youth Soccer

The Effects of a Knowledge Translation Intervention With an ACL Prevention Program on Implementation, Injury Rates, and Performance in Youth Soccer Players

Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries of the knee are common in youth soccer players, and show an even higher prevalence in female soccer players. Clinical practice guidelines recommend ACL injury prevention programs (ACL-IPP) to reduce injury risk, yet implementation in amateur youth soccer is low, reducing actual real-world effectiveness. This trial is a pragmatic effectiveness trial for ACL injury prevention for amateur youth soccer players, using a knowledge translation intervention with the Knowledge-to-Action Framework.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injuries; Lower Extremity Problem
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Knowledge Translation Intervention; Behavioral: Educational handout

Detailed Description

ACL injury prevention programs (ACL-IPP) are exercise programs recommended by clinical practice guidelines that have been shown to reduce the risk of an ACL injury. However, implementation of these programs is low, which reduces the real-world effectiveness of these programs. This project will assess a knowledge translation intervention with youth soccer programs for implementation of ACL-IPPs utilizing the Knowledge-to-Action Framework. The main educational intervention will be a knowledge translation (KT) intervention between the researchers, and coaches/players of youth soccer programs within the state of Michigan. Specifics of the knowledge translation intervention will or may include focus groups, surveys, in-person training, video handouts, and paper handouts. This will be compared to coaches/teams that are offered a handout that describes an evidence-based ACL-IPP.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 671
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Michigan
    • Flint, Michigan, United States, 48502
      • University of Michigan-Flint

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 14 years to 19 years (Child, Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Amateur youth soccer organizations within southern Michigan.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Players above the age of 19 or below the age of 14
• Teams that have dedicated medical staffing

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Prevention
• Allocation: Non-Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Knowledge Translation Intervention; The group participating in the KT intervention program will participate in focus groups, individual meetings, and receive videos, informational handouts and on-field training from the researchers. The researchers and participants will work together to determine barriers and facilitators towards implementation of an ACL-IPP, and create an ACL-IPP that follows established clinical practice guidelines and is individualized to the local contextual needs.	Behavioral: Knowledge Translation Intervention; The KT intervention utilizes the communications between the teams and the researchers to promote implementation of the ACL-IPPs. The meetings will provide opportunities for mutually beneficial learning from the researchers, and feedback from the coaches on how to best implement strategies through local barriers in order to facilitate necessary changes to promote ACL-IPP usage while adhering to clinical practice guideline recommendations.
Active Comparator: Educational Handout; The coaches will receive an educational handout describing an ACL-IPP.	Behavioral: Educational handout; Educational handout describing a commonly cited ACL-IPP.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Uptake of ACL-IPP	Reported frequency of implementation of ACL-IPP	up to 2 years
Number of ACL injuries		up to 2 years

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in 5-10-5 test time	Average change in 5-10-5 (Pro Agility) test time	2-4 months
Change in horizontal jump distance	Average change in forward jumping distance	2-4 months
Change in 10 meter forward run time	Average change in time spent running 10 meters	2-4 months
Number of time-loss lower extremity injuries	Number of reported injuries to the foot, ankle, knee, and hip which cause a player to miss time with team	up to 2 years

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Michigan
• Collaborators: Community Foundation of Greater Flint

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): July 1, 2022
• Primary Completion (Actual): April 30, 2024
• Study Completion (Actual): August 30, 2024

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: June 23, 2022
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 28, 2022
• First Posted (Actual): July 5, 2022

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): October 15, 2024
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: October 10, 2024
• Last Verified: October 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Leg Injuries; Knee Injuries; Wounds and Injuries; Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injuries
• Other Study ID Numbers: HUM00214282

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: UNDECIDED

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: No