Anterior cruciate ligament injury mechanisms through a neurocognition lens: implications for injury screening

Athletes in team sports have to quickly visually perceive actions of opponents and teammates while executing their own movements. These continuous actions are performed under time pressure and may contribute to a non-contact ACL injury. However, ACL injury screening and prevention programmes are pri...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Alli Gokeler, Anne Benjaminse, Fillippo Tosarelli, Jochen Baumeister
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: BMJ Publishing Group 2021-06-01
Series:BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine
Online Access:https://bmjopensem.bmj.com/content/7/2/e001091.full
Description
Summary:Athletes in team sports have to quickly visually perceive actions of opponents and teammates while executing their own movements. These continuous actions are performed under time pressure and may contribute to a non-contact ACL injury. However, ACL injury screening and prevention programmes are primarily based on standardised movements in a predictable environment. The sports environment provides much greater cognitive demand because athletes must attend their attention to numerous external stimuli and inhibit impulsive actions. Any deficit or delay in attentional processing may contribute to an inability to correct potential errors in complex coordination, resulting in knee positions that increase the ACL injury risk. In this viewpoint, we advocate that ACL injury screening should include the sports specific neurocognitive demands.
ISSN:2055-7647