As an interdisciplinary field of study, kinesiology uses written forms of communication and involves the application of biological, chemical, physica

Critique

Kins 250

"Effects of Injury Prevention on Knee Mechanics in Female Adolescents During Puberty"

In the article on "Effects of Injury Prevention on Knee Mechanics in Female Adolescents During Puberty" the goal of Otsuki Reiko and his team was to see what effect injury prevention training would have on female basketball players while their bodies were going through the normal changes of puberty. Knee mechanics change during puberty due to weight gain and the rapid growth spurts that often accompany puberty. This leads to loss of knee control in female athletes and is a major cause of anterior cruciate ligament injury's. Comment by Lisa: The authors mention…… Comment by Lisa: The authors also conclude that this leads…..

The researchers noted that 14-19-year-old female athletes have the highest incidence of ACL injury. Otsuki and his team believed that the rapid body changes that occur during puberty could be one of the main issues. This causes a lack of knee control leading to an increase in valgus motion which they noted to be the main mechanism of ACL injuries. Using five junior high school basketball teams with a total of 71 female basketball players the researchers began their study. Subjects that had gotten a lower extremity injury, had neurological or medical pathology or had participated previously in an injury prevention program were excluded from the study. Subjects who were pre or post puberty were also excluded from the study. After all considerations a total of 65 subjects participated two teams were assigned the training program while the other three teams stuck to their normal training routine. Comment by Lisa: Did they “believe” or was this their hypothesis? Comment by Lisa: The authors noted that this causes……

Two groups were created, the control and the training group, each group trained 6 days a week and all had similar skill levels. The study lasted 6 months of their normal 12-month season during the post training analysis 5 of the 65 subjects were unable to participate. The injury prevention training was focused on ensuring proper movement patterns. Researchers wanted the program to promote knee flexion during landing and cutting and avoid knee valgus motion. The program was used as a warmup method for the training team which lasted 20 minutes three times a week before a normal day of practice. Otsuki and his colleagues had a physical therapist conduct the original training to ensure it was properly done. The coaches were also taught so that they could continue the training while the PT was not able to be there. Every two weeks the PT came back to assure that the training was still being implemented correctly. The control group only did their normal training and both groups were not to do any other training or conditioning during this time.

According to the researcher's injury prevention may be vital in the prevention of ACL injuries that often occur with the biomechanical changes associated with pubertal growth in female athletes. These changes include a rapid change in height, weight and pelvic width which might affect torque at the knee joint as well as dynamic knee alignment. The researchers hypothesized that the implementation of injury prevention training would be effective in limiting the loss of dynamic knee control which could prevent ACL injuries. The study that Otsuki and his team implemented did support this hypothesis. Although there was not really improvement in knee control in the training group there was no decline in knee control in this group as there was in the control group. Comment by Lisa: Their findings were not significant enough to show improvement in knee control in the………

Some downfalls to the study that the researchers mentioned were the use of two dimensional measurements which may not have represented the 3-dimensional movements that occur at the knee. Also, the use of 12-14-year-old girls may not accurately represent all pubertal ages. Some additional factors that were not addressed were ethnicity and position played, both of which Otsuki believed may have influenced landing mechanisms and in turn the study. In future studies the researchers hope to focus on other factors such as, body composition, strength, and neuromuscular control all of which may affect landing mechanisms. Comment by Lisa: The authors noted some weaknesses in the study which were…. Comment by Lisa: According the researchers, they also identified some variables that were not addressed…..

Overall, I think this study was eye opening for myself. I plan to work with adolescents around this age so understanding how puberty can drastically change their bodies and possibly lead to injury will be important to comprehend so that I can help young athletes be successful. The researchers also mention needing to implement a long-term follow-up investigation of ACL injury rates to see how well the training worked. I feel a long term follow up would be beneficial to the study and to the subjects involved. If the rate of injury is less with the training group over a longer period, then using that program and building on it could prove beneficial to all future female athletes in the prevention of ACL injuries. The researchers did not go into much detail about what the training program entailed, which I would like to know. Lastly, I would like to know why the program was only implemented 3 times a week if it was being used as a warm up routine then maybe using that before every practice could be part of a future study. Comment by Lisa: Good conclusion and wrap up. Comment by Lisa: In my opinion, a limitation of the research was…..

Citation

Otsuki, R., Kuramochi, R., & Fukubayashi, T. (2014). EFFECT OF INJURY PREVENTION TRAINING ON KNEE MECHANICS IN FEMALE ADOLESCENTS DURING PUBERTY. International Journal of Sports Physical Therapy, 9(2), 149–156.

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