Abstract
Identifying risk factors for musculoskeletal injury is critical to maintain the health
and safety of athletes. While current tests consider isolated assessments of function
or subjective ratings, objective tests of reactive postural responses, especially
when in cognitively demanding scenarios, may better identify risk of musculoskeletal
injury than traditional tests alone.
Objectives
Examine if objective assessments of reactive postural responses, quantified using
wearable inertial measurement units, are associated with the risk for acute lower
extremity musculoskeletal injuries in collegiate athletes.
Design
Prospective survival analysis.
Methods
191 Division I National Collegiate Athletic Association athletes completed an instrumented
version of a modified Push and Release (I-mP&R) test at the beginning of their competitive
season. The I-mP&R was performed with eyes closed under single- and dual-task (concurrent
cognitive task) conditions. Inertial measurement units recorded acceleration and angular
velocity data that was used to calculate time-to-stability. Acute lower extremity
musculoskeletal injuries were tracked from first team activity for six months. Cox
proportional hazard models were used to determine if longer times to stability were
associated with faster time to injury.
Results
Longer time-to-stability was associated with increased risk of injury; every 250 ms
increase in dual-task median time-to-stability was associated with a 36% increased
risk of acute, lower-extremity musculoskeletal injury.
Conclusions
Tests of reactive balance, particularly under dual-task conditions, may be able to
identify athletes most at risk of acute lower extremity musculoskeletal injury. Clinically-feasible,
instrumented tests of reactive should be considered in assessments for prediction
and mitigation of musculoskeletal injury in collegiate athletes.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: January 10, 2023
Accepted:
January 6,
2023
Received in revised form:
December 15,
2022
Received:
September 10,
2022
Identification
Copyright
© 2023 Sports Medicine Australia. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
