Abstract :
[en] Background: Current lower limb injury prevention and return to sport research recommends testing performance and biomechanics during injury-risk movements (e.g., change of direction (COD), jump landing, single hop task) [1–4]. The usual testing conditions (laboratory setting, no external perturbations) has been said to reduce their capacity of assessing the athlete’s (re-)injury risk during sport competition [5–7].
Several authors have addressed this by integrating decision making and neuro-cognitive tasks in the evaluations, to better simulate the sport competition environment (nearby athletes, simultaneous decision making, etc.) [8–10]. Using these adaptations (e.g., COD based on visual stimuli, count backwards while jumping) enabled better identification of movement quality and physical performance deficits [6,11].
However, most research has remained in laboratory settings (i.e., using complicated and costly 3D motion capture systems and force plates), limiting its use by clinicians and field practitioners [11–15]. Some researchers have proposed adaptations with simpler setups (e.g., performing a COD after the evaluator kicked a ball) [16], but the lack of test standardization limits its use for data comparison purposes (establishing normative values, or athlete monitoring across time).
Finally, few studies used these methods among injured populations, nor conducted follow-up interventions [12,17].
Objective: To propose easy-to-use ways to integrate visual stimuli and reaction time into clinical and field-test practice.
Study Design: Cross-sectional, interventional study. Population: ACL-injured and uninjured athletes.
Methods: Main test: adapted version of unplanned COD test [14] using FITLIGHT® Trainer [18,19] and video-based evaluations [20,21]. Secondary tests: Landing Error Scoring System (LESS) [22], Y-balance test [3], Isometric force, single-leg jumps, KOOS [23] and ACL-RSI Scale [24] questionnaires.
Results & Conclusion: Work in progress.
