We have the injury prevention exercise programme, but how well do youth follow it?

Abstract

Objectives: Describe the exercise fidelity and utilisation fidelity of the Knee Control injury prevention exercise programme (IPEP) in youth floorball alongside an intervention RCT.

Design: Observation study METHODS: 20 floorball team training groups (12 male, 8 female, age 12-17 years) from the intervention arm of an RCT were included. The Knee Control IPEP was implemented at the beginning of the season. A research team member attended a team training session twice in the season (first and second half of 26 week season) with a total 31 training sessions observed. An IPEP specific exercise fidelity checklist was used to assess how the programme was used.

Results: Of 535 individual Knee Control exercises observed (76% of observations in males), 58% were performed correctly. Exercise fidelity was higher in females than in males (71% vs 54%, proportion difference 16%, 95% CI 7-25%, P=0.001). The full Knee Control IPEP (7 exercises x 3 sets) was completed only during 4 of 31 (13%) training sessions observed. The utilisation fidelity did not differ between sexes, and the mean number of completed exercises performed during the observations was 11 (SD 5).

Conclusions: The exercise fidelity to an IPEP in youth floorball players was low, with only three out of five exercises performed according to instructions. Furthermore, only half of the IPEP exercises were executed on average. To make IPEPs effective in youth floorball and other similar team-ball sports, more work is needed to understand the reasons for low exercise and utilisation fidelity.

Keywords: Floorball; Injury prevention exercise programme; Knee control; Neuromuscular training; Sports injuries; Youth sports.