Prevalence of Neuromuscular Deficiencies Associated With Non-Contact Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury in Healthy Collegiate Student-Athletes

Identifying lower extremity defects during high impact activity, such as landing, especially in young athletes who play team sports, could help to prevent non-contact lower extremity injuries. The Tuck Jump Assessment (TJA) is a screening instrument designed to recognize neuromuscular deficits related to Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) injury. The current study investigated the prevalence rate of neuromuscular deficits during tuck jump in female and male physical education and sports sciences collegiate students.

The study subjects included all undergraduate students of physical education and sports science at the University of Kurdistan in 2018-2019 academic year (male/female =55-77, Mean±SD age: 21.3±1.7 y, weight: 63.4±12.3 kg, height: 169.4±9.5 cm, body mass index: 21.97±2.94 kg/m2, and sports experience: 4.95±3.38 y). All study subjects conducted the TJA, which consisted of continuous maximal height tuck jumps for 10 seconds. Tuck jump performance was recorded by two cameras in sagittal and frontal planes and was evaluated using the Kinovea software. The performance was scored across 10 criteria using the modified scale (0-2).

One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) results revealed a significant difference between the tuck jump scores in male and female athletes (P<0.01). The difference between male and female athletes was not significant in neuromuscular fatigue and quadriceps dominance; in both groups, the prevalence of these defects was <15%. However, there was a significant difference between the ligament dominance, trunk dominance, and leg dominance of male and female athletes (P<0.01). The prevalence of leg dominance in males (65.5%: 49.1% grade 1, 16.4% grade 2) was higher than that of the females (45.5%: 40.30% grade 1, 5.2% grade 2). But the prevalence of ligament dominance in females (81.8%: 51.9% grade 1, 29.9% grade 2) was higher than that of the males (40%: 34.5% grade 1, 5.5% grade 2). Besides, the prevalence of trunk dominance in females (72.7%: 57.1% grade 1, 15.6% grade 2) was higher than that of the males (26.3%: 25.5% grade 1, 1.8% grade 2). 

The mean score of incidence of the ligament dominance, trunk dominance, and leg dominance was ˃50% in the study subjects. Thus, it is recommended that preventive exercise programs emphasize on the correction of these defects. The correction of leg dominance deficiency is a priority among males; however, the correction of ligament dominance and trunk dominance is the priority among females.