Neuromuscular Control Analysis for Injury Prevention

A special issue of Sports (ISSN 2075-4663).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 April 2025) | Viewed by 441

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Department of Kinesiology, Brock University, St. Catharines, ON L2S 3A1, Canada
Interests: movement screening; neuromuscular control; kinematic analysis

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Neuromuscular control is a critical component in joint stability during functional activities. Because neuromuscular control may play a role in musculoskeletal injury in sport, many clinicians utilize tools to train the neuromuscular system to be more effective in controlling overall body positioning and/or specific joint placement during functional activities, particularly in the deceleration or eccentric phases of tasks. This has led to research elucidating the relationship between neuromuscular control and the development and prevention of injury. Given the focus of clinicians on neuromuscular control in injury prevention training, it is essential to provide strong evidence that confirms the role of the neuromuscular system in the development of injury to further understand the contribution of neuromuscular control components (proprioceptive and kinesthetic awareness, dynamic stability, preparatory and reactive muscle characteristics, and conscious and unconscious functional motor patterns) to injury prevention. As neuromuscular control deficits may persist following a variety of injuries, it is also critical to understand the role of previous injury on these potential deficits in an effort to mitigate the risk of future injury. Therefore, the aim of this Special Issue is to extend our understanding of the role of the neuromuscular system in injury prevention.

Dr. Nicole Chimera
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • neuromuscular control
  • proprioception
  • injury
  • prevention
  • dynamic stability
  • muscle activation
  • functional motor patterns
  • training programs

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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9 pages, 678 KiB  
Brief Report
A Battery of Jump Tests Helps Discriminating Between Subjects With and Without Chronic Ankle Instability
by Claudio Legnani, Matteo Saladini, Martina Faraldi, Giuseppe M. Peretti and Alberto Ventura
Sports 2025, 13(6), 171; https://doi.org/10.3390/sports13060171 - 30 May 2025
Viewed by 224
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to assess whether a simple and reproducible battery of jump tests can distinguish between patients affected by chronic ankle instability (CAI) and control subjects. The hypothesis was that patients with CAI would demonstrate lower performance compared to [...] Read more.
The purpose of this study was to assess whether a simple and reproducible battery of jump tests can distinguish between patients affected by chronic ankle instability (CAI) and control subjects. The hypothesis was that patients with CAI would demonstrate lower performance compared to healthy subjects during jumping tasks. Twenty-one young, active adults aged 18 to 45 years affected by CAI were matched for sex, age, and body mass index (BMI) to a control group of 21 healthy subjects without history of lower limb pathology. Jumping ability was instrumentally assessed by an infrared optical acquisition system using a test battery, including mono- and bipodalic vertical squat jumps, countermovement jumps (CMJs), a drop jump (DJ), and a side-hop test. Patients with CAI had significantly worse monopodalic CMJ, DJ, and side-hop test scores in their involved limb compared to the non-dominant limb of healthy individuals. Pathological limbs of CAI patients reported inferior results compared to non-dominant limbs of healthy individuals while performing monopodalic CMJs, DJs, and side-hop tests (p < 0.05). No statistically significant differences were found between the two groups in the limb symmetry index (LSI) while performing monopodalic CMJs and DJs (p = 0.072 and p = 0.071, respectively), while a difference was found between the two groups, in favor of healthy subjects, while performing monopodalic side-hop tests (p < 0.01). A reproducible battery of jump tests performed with a simple and low-cost instrument can be applied in the clinical setting allowing for reliable measurements of functional ability of subjects with CAI. Our findings support the idea that side-hop tests could be more accurate than vertical jump tests for detecting functional deficits in patients suffering from CAI. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Neuromuscular Control Analysis for Injury Prevention)
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