Knee Injury Prevention: Neruomuscular Training

With the number of knee injuries on the rise, many studies have been conducted to provide an answer to this problem. Neuromuscular training has been the focus of many studies, trying to determine whether or not it does benefit athletes.

Hewett, Lidenfield, Riccobene, & Noyes conducted a study to see how effective neuromuscular training was on knee injury prevention.  First, the focus was strictly on technique. Each athlete was shown the proper technique of jumping and made to practice it for the first two weeks¹. Exercises included wall jumps, tuck jumps, squat jumps, bounding techniques, and 180 degree jumps. During the first two weeks, the amount of time spent on each exercise was increased. Athletes went from an average of 20 seconds per exercise to 25 seconds of the exercise¹.

Weeks three and four, the focus shifted to building the fundamentals of each jumping exercise. Here they began to incorporate “building a base of strength, power, and agility”¹.  Exercise time was increased to 30 seconds per exercise. Only two new jump training exercises were added, because the importance was making sure the athlete used the correct technique for each exercise¹.

The final two weeks the athletes were coached on how to maximize their jumping ability. Throughout each of their exercises, athletes were encouraged to do their absolute best and push themselves to their max in order to improve¹.  After the six weeks of training, the next sport season was monitored. Out of the 1,263 athletes that had partaken in the study, only 14 serious knee injuries were reported¹. Of those injuries, only two female athletes sustained a season ending ACL injury. Even with females’ susceptibility to knee injuries, Hewett et. al, were able to show that the proper jump training can in fact be beneficial for improving the strength of an athlete’s knee.

Years later in 2003, Myklebust, Braekken, Skjolberg, Olsen, & Bar conducted a similar study on neuromuscular training to help prevent knee injury. While their exercise techniques varied (they used balance balls), their results yielded the same conclusion and found that the more hours spent on neuromuscular training, the lower the chance of injury^2.

Both of these studies come to show the importance of neuromuscular training in an athletic program. Coaches must do all they can to incorporate these techniques and give their athletes a fighting chance against injuries.

¹Hewett, T. E., Lindenfield, T. N., Riccobene, J. V., & Noyes, F. R. (1999). The effect of neuromuscular traning on the incidene of knee injury in female athletes: a prospective study. American Journal of Sports Medicine, 27,6, 699-706.

²Myklebust, G., Engebretsen, L., Braekken, I. H., Skjolberg, A., Olsen, O. E., & Bahr, R. (2003). Prevention of anterior cruciate ligament injuries in female team handball players: a prospective intervention study over three seasons. Clinical Journal of Sports Medicine, 13,2, 71-78.