The Effectiveness of Injury-Prevention Programs in Reducing the Incidence of Anterior Cruciate Ligament Sprains in Adolescent Athletes

Clinical Scenario: There is a high incidence of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury in adolescents participating in pivoting sports such as soccer, basketball, and handball. Most ACL injuries in athletes are noncontact injuries, with a mechanism of sudden deceleration, change in direction, or landing from a jump. These mechanisms coupled with an increase in contraction of the quadriceps have been shown as risk factors for ACL injuries. Injuries to the ACL may require surgery, a long rehabilitation, and the potential for reinjury. Studies have shown reductions in lower extremity injury rates using training protocols that focus on landing mechanics, balance training, strength training, and/or agility training. There has been some thought that starting preventive training programs with adolescent athletes may be the most effective approach to reducing adolescent ACL injuries. Focused Clinical Question: Can lower extremity injury-prevention programs effectively reduce ACL injury rates in adolescent athletes

Risk factors of anterior cruciate ligament tears: Neuromuscular status

Peer reviewe

Do Irish adolescents have adequate functional movement skill and confidence?

Recent research has shown that post-primary Irish youth are insufficiently active and fail to reach a level of proficiency across basic fundamental movement skills. The purpose of the current research was to gather cross-sectional data on adolescent youth, differentiated by gender, specifically to inform the development of a targeted movement-oriented intervention. Data were collected on adolescents (N=219; mean age: 14.45 ± 0.96 years), within two, mixed gender schools. Data collection included actual and perceived movement measurements; comprising of fundamental movement skills, the functional movement screen, perceived movement confidence and perceived functional confidence. Overall, levels of actual mastery within fundamental and functional movement were low, with significant gender differences observed. Adolescent males scored higher in the overall fundamental movement skill domain (male mean score = 70.87 ± 7.05; female mean score = 65.53 ± 7.13), yet lower within the functional movement screen (male mean score = 13.58 ± 2.59), in comparison to their female counterparts (female mean score = 14.70 ± 2.16). There were high levels of perceived confidence reported within fundamental and functional movement scales. Future intervention strategies should combat the low levels of actual movement skill proficiency, whilst identifying the reasons for higher perceived movement confidence within adolescents