The Acute Effects of an Injury Prevention Program on Landing Technique and Performance Measures in Youth Athletes

CONTEXT: Exercise-based injury prevention programs can improve performance outcomes and reduce injury risk over the course of an athletic season but are not widely implemented. Identifying acute benefits to utilizing an injury prevention warm-up program compared to common dynamic and static warm-ups may encourage more teams to adopt injury prevention programs. OBJECTIVE: To compare the acute effects of 3 warm-up protocols on performance measures and jump-landing technique in active children. DESIGN: Randomized controlled trial. SETTING: Junior boarding school and high school. PATIENTS OR OTHER PARTICIPANTS: 89 health youth athletes (male n=60, female n=29, age=13±2 years, height=161.79 ± 12.60 cm, mass=95.94 ± 83.74 kg). INTERVENTION(S): Participants were randomized to one of three 10-minute warm-up protocols: Injury Prevention Program (IPP), Dynamic Warm-Up (DWU), or Static Warm-Up (SWU). Participants were assessed before (pre-test) and after (post-test) completing the intervention on physical performance ability and jump-landing technique. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Vertical jump height, long jump distance, shuttle run time, and Landing Error Scoring System (LESS) score. RESULTS: Jump-landing technique significantly improved after IPP (Δ score =.51±1.39) compared with DWU (Δ score =.16 ± 1.33) and SWU (Δ score =-.55 ± 1.25)(P=.01). No significant differences between trials were observed for vertical jump, long jump, or shuttle run (P\u3e.05). CONCLUSIONS: An injury prevention warm-up program can be effective for acutely improving jump-landing technique and is just as effective as a dynamic warm-up or static warm-up in preparing an athlete for athletic performance