Implementing a School Prevention Program to Reduce Injuries Through Neuromuscular Training

Summary

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of a neuromuscular training program in decreasing sport and recreational injuries and improving healthy outcomes in junior high school students (grades 7 to 9). The neuromuscular training program is implemented as a 15-minute warm-up at the beginning of the students' physical education classes over a three-month period. This study is a randomized controlled trial design, involving twelve schools over a three-year period. Upon enrolment into the study, schools are randomly assigned to the intervention (neuromuscular training) group, or the control group. The control group includes a standard-of practice warm-up consisting of aerobic components and static stretching.

A study athletic therapist visits the schools each week to assess and record information on any injuries sustained by study participants. Baseline health and physical fitness is measured at baseline, and again at 3-month follow-up in study participants to assess changes over the course of the program.

Conditions

• Wounds and Injuries
• Adolescent
• Athletic Injuries
• Sport Injury
• Sports Injuries in Children

Interventions

OTHER

Neuromuscular training program

This is a 15-minute warm-up program designed to be implemented at the beginning of junior high school physical education classes. This warm-up is comprised of 15 components; nine of which are aerobic exercises (forward running, forward run with skipping, forward run with knee lifts, forward run with heel kicks, sideways shuffles, zigzag running, forward running with intermittent stops, speed runs, and squat/skate jumps), and six of which are balance/strengthening exercises (front plank, side plank, nordic hamstring exercise, lunges, balancing on the wobble board, and balancing on foam balance pads).

OTHER

Standard-of-practice Warm-up (Control)

This is a 15-minute warm-up program designed to be implemented at the beginning of junior high school physical education classes. This warm-up is comprised of 16 components; seven of which are aerobic exercises (forward running, forward running with arm swings, side shuffling, lunging, skipping, arm running with arm swings, and cool-down running), and nine of which are static stretching exercises (standing quadriceps, standing hamstrings, standing calf, standing groin, rotating ankle, lunges, standing shoulder, standing triceps, standing neck).

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Alberta Innovates Health Solutions

  collaborator OTHER

• Calgary Board of Education

  collaborator OTHER

• Calgary Catholic School District

  collaborator OTHER

• Ever Active Schools

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• Policywise for Children and Families

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• Sport Injury Prevention Research Centre

  lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

DOUBLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

11 Years

Max Age

15 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2014-09-01

Primary Completion

2018-06-30

Completion

2020-08-30