The highest incidence of injury is seen in adolescent playing pivoting sports such as soccer, basketball, and handball. Objective: To examine the effectiveness of a neuromuscular prevention program in reducing knee and ankle injuries in adolescent male soccer players.
Methods
Fifty Malaysian boys [25 experimental (EXP); or a 25 control (CON)] adolescent male soccer players (age 13.3 ± 0.4 yr; BMI 20.9 ± 1.5 kg/m2; stature: 160 ± 0.1 cm) from two sport schools, with 4.4 ± 0.5 years playing experience participated. The EXP group followed neuromuscular prevention program 5 days per week, for 12 weeks. The CON group was instructed to continue training and warm-up as usual. A neuromuscular exercise programme designed exclusively for adolescent soccer players was including jumping, eccentric strength, agility, balance, dynamic stretching and speed. Over 1 year all injuries were documented monthly by physiotherapist. Complete monthly injury reports were available for 50 players.
Results
Eight lower limb injuries [Knee 3, (0.12 ± 0.32); Ankle 5, (0.19 ± 0.38)] occurred in the EXP group, and 11 lower limb injuries [Knee 1, (0.03 ± 0.12); Ankle 10, (0.40 ± 0.50)] occurred in the CON group. The incidence of injuries per 1000 player- hours of training and playing soccer was 1.7 in the EXP group, and in the CON group 2.4 injuries per 1000 player-hours, which equates to 29% fewer injuries in the EXP group. Significance of difference between the EXP and CON groups was p < 0.05.
Conclusions
Effective implementation of neuromuscular injury prevention program can reduce lower extremity injury incidence in adolescent male soccer players. Adolescent players need better education regarding injury prevention strategies and should include such interventions as part of their regular training.
