THE EFFECT OF BIOMECHANICALLY FOCUSED INJURY PREVENTION TRAINING ON REDUCING ANTERIOR CRUCIATE LIGAMENT INJURY RISK AMONG FEMALE COMMUNITY LEVEL ATHLETES

Abstract

This study investigated changes in biomechanical risk factors following a 9-week body-weight based training intervention focused on the dynamic control of the hip/trunk. Peak knee moments and lower limb muscle activation of female community level athletes (n=18), split into intervention (n=8) and comparison (n=10) groups, were measured during unplanned sidestepping pre/post training. Following the 9-week intervention, total muscle activation of the muscles crossing the knee decreased, which was accompanied by elevated peak knee valgus and internal rotation moments among the comparison group. Increases in peak knee valgus and internal rotation moments were not observed among the training intervention group. In the context of ACL injury risk, these findings suggest that participation in biomechanically focused training may mitigate the potentially deleterious effects of regular community level sport participation.