Is there evidence that proprioception or balance training can prevent anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries in athletes without previous ACL injury?

Jessica L Owen, BSc, Sean Campbell, MSc, Sara J Falkner, BKin, Christine Bialkowski, BSc and Alex T Ward, BSc

The purpose of this literature review was to find if there is evidence that proprioception or balance training can prevent ACL injuries in athletes without previous ACL insufficiencies and what balance training protocols are used in ACL injury prevention programs. The authors concluded that there was a lack of strong evidence demonstrating the effectiveness of isolated proprioception or balance training in preventing ACL injury.  However, there was a decrease in ACL injury incidence in tsome treatment groups,and no studies demonstrated detrimental effects from proprioceptive or balance training that were statistically significant. Therefore, they believe that clients might benefit from proprioception or balance training.

Physical Therapy, Vol. 86, No. 10, October 2006, pp. 1436-1440

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