Investigating the effect of neuromuscular training on the proprioception of knee and ankle joints in male soccer player students prone to anterior cruciate ligament injury in Khorazmi University, Tehran, 2018

The aim of anterior cruciate ligament injury prevention programs is to correct or eliminate risk factors and ultimately reduce injury. The present study aimed to investigate the effect of neuromuscular exercises on knee and ankle joint proprioception in male soccer player students prone to anterior cruciate ligament injury.

In this quasi-experimental research, 24 male soccer players prone to anterior cruciate ligament injury at Khorazmi University of Tehran in 2018 were purposefully selected and randomly assigned to two experimental groups (n=12) and control groups (n=12). Two days before the commencement of neuromuscular training, knee and ankle proprioception assessment was performed on all subjects. The members of the experimental group participated in the neuromuscular training program for six weeks (3 sessions per week). Two days after finishing the training, all subjects were re-evaluated. Data were analyzed in SPSS software (version 22) using Shapiro-Wilk, covariance, and paired t-tests.

In this study, among 24 students prone to anterior cruciate ligament injury, 12 cases performed neuromuscular training for six weeks. The results demonstrated that knee proprioception (P=0.013) and ankle proprioception (in inversion movement p=0.032, in eversion movement P=0.047) in the experimental group improved significantly after six weeks of neuromuscular training compared to the control group (P≤0.05).

As evidenced by the obtained results, the use of neuromuscular training can be recommended to improve the proprioception of the knee and ankle joints and ultimately prevent anterior cruciate ligament injury.