Comparison Of The Effect Of 8-Week Of Neuromuscular Exercises With And Without Cognitive-Dual Tasks On Proprioception And Balance Of Athletes With Anterior Cruciate Ligament Deficiency

The aim of this research was effect of eight weeks of neuromuscular training (NMT) with and without cognitive-dual tasks (DTs) on proprioception and balance of athletes with ACL deficiency (ACL-D). 39 soccer players with ACL-D were selected purposefully and randomly divided into three groups of 13 (control group, neuromuscular training group and neuromuscular training with dual tasks group). Two training groups performed the exercises for eight weeks and three sessions per week. cognitive-motor dual tasks were performed in one of the groups along with neuromuscular exercises in the form of counting down numbers, memorizing numbers, calculating unexpected equations, specialized football skill movements.  The results of the current study indicated that there was no significant difference in knee joint proprioception in the open and closed kinetic chain after applying the intervention between the three groups, but there was a significant difference in lower extremity performance of the athletes based on the Y balance test in the anterior and posterior-lateral direction between the three groups (p<0.05). It seems that providing neuromuscular exercises along with cognitive-dual tasks can probably be considered as a useful approach to improve lower extremity performance based on the Y balance test in athletes with anterior cruciate ligament deficiency.