Prevention Programs for Soccer Athletes are Protective: A Level-I Meta-Analysis
NL, Jacobs JC, Kim J, Amendola A, & Shea KG. The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery. 2016, 98:1436-43. doi: 10.2106/JBJS.15.00933.
programs focused on reducing the risk of ankle injury are effective for soccer
the increase popularity of soccer and ankle sprains being one of the most
common musculoskeletal injuries occurring within soccer, it’s not surprising
that several prevention programs have been developed to reduce the risk of an
ankle injury. However, the barriers and limitations of different prevention
programs can often influence the quality of a study and blur
the overall evidence for the effectiveness of prevention programs. Therefore,
Grimm and colleagues performed a meta-analysis to evaluate the validity and
overall effectiveness of prevention programs for reducing the risk of an ankle
sprain for soccer athletes. The authors systematically searched the literature
to identify randomized controlled trials of ankle injury prevention programs.
They included prevention programs that focused on either neuromuscular,
proprioceptive, strengthening or stretching exercises. They omitted programs that
used bracing or taping. Further, only soccer athletes of any skill level, sex,
or age were included. The search strategy retrieved 10 randomized trials with a
total of 4,121 soccer athletes. The authors found that overall injury
prevention programs provide a protective effect for reducing ankle injuries among
on high-quality evidence, the authors confirmed that prevention programs reduce
the risk of an ankle injury among soccer athletes. While these results have a
direct clinical impact, it remains unclear the influence skill level, sex, age
and/or previous injury history may have on these findings. It would be
interesting to see if these findings hold up when considering these factors.
Furthermore, the injury prevention programs included into this meta-analysis
only focused on reducing the risk of an ankle injury. With time restraints
often a limiting factor for not implementing a prevention program, it would be
useful to know if these prevention programs are effective at reducing other
musculoskeletal injuries in soccer athletes (e.g., hamstring strains). Lastly,
because this meta-analysis did not compare the multiple prevention programs
(e.g. neuromuscular/proprioceptive vs. strengthening), it’s unknown which
prevention program is most effective and should be a focus in future research.
In the meantime, clinicians should consider implementing a prevention program
composed of exercises that they believe are effective and appropriate for their
clinical setting and patients.
Discussion: In your current setting, what kind of prevention program do you
implement for preventing ankle injuries? What are some of the barriers that
prevent you from implementing a prevention program?
by: Kyle Kosik
by: Jeffrey Driban
To Brace or Not to Brace…That is the Question
Grimm, N., Jacobs, J., Kim, J., Amendola, A., & Shea, K. (2016). Ankle Injury Prevention Programs for Soccer Athletes Are Protective: A Level-I Meta-Analysis The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery, 98 (17), 1436-1443 DOI: 10.2106/JBJS.15.00933