800 Section - Enhancing Injury Prevention Practices in Athletics: A Virtual Multimedia Intervention for Athletic Trainers and Coaches

To assess current neuromuscular injury prevention practices among high school and club-level athletic trainers and coaches, as well as investigate whether a brief educational intervention increases knowledge of neuromuscular injury prevention and changes practices.

 

Design:

Type of study: a cohort, prospective, pilot feasibility study design. 
Inclusion Criteria: Active coaches and athletic trainers of high school and club level student athletes (aged 14-17) who work directly with athletes on a day-to-day basis
Exclusion Criteria: Subjects who do not speak any English.

Prospective pilot study of high school/club coaches and athletic trainers (ATs) for athletes aged 14–17. Participants completed a pre-survey, viewed a brief education video about current neuromuscular training injury prevention programs, and completed follow-up surveys.

Results:

Of 123 eligible, 11 consented, 6 completed the pre-survey, and 4 completed the follow-up surveys.

Pre-intervention data:
- 83.3% reported slight knowledge of neuromuscular training programs, and 16.7% reported not being knowledgeable at all.
- 50% reported not using NMT (33.3% not using any, and 16.7% reported using “other” programs). 50% reported using NMT.
- 50% reported current use of 11-20 minutes of their training time to injury preventative measures, 33.3% reported more than 20 minutes, and 16.7% reported less than 10 minutes.

Post-intervention:
- 100% found the session “very helpful,” 50% felt very knowledgeable (vs. 0% pre), and 100% planned to adopt NMT (FIFA 11 and KIPP).

Conclusion:

A brief, low-cost educational intervention markedly improved self-reported knowledge of and intent to adopt a neuromuscular training programs, among coaches/athletic trainers. Adolescents in this age group are vulnerable to injury-related dropout, yet many club/school coaches and athletic trainers lack the education for the most current and evidence-based injury preventative programs. Expanding access to these resources for coaches and athletic trainers of all levels could close this gap and help keep young athletes in sport.