Effects of the FIFA 11+ injury prevention programme on muscle strength and landing biomechanical markers of ACL injury during fatigue among youth soccer players

Abstract

Abstract Study aim: This study aimed to investigate the effect of the FIFA 11+ injury prevention programme on strength and on muscle strength and landing biomechanical markers of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury during fatigue among youth recreational soccer players. Material and methods: Thirty volunteer participants were assigned to the intervention group (n = 15) and control group (n = 15). The intervention group performed the FIFA 11+ programme as a warm-up activities, while the control group performed unstructured warm-up twice per week for 8 weeks. The data measurements were taken before fatigue simulation (PRE), immediately after simulation (POST5), after 20 min (POST20), and 35 min (POST35) after simulation before and after the completion of the intervention. Five-minute fatigue simulation was used for fatigue induction. Muscle strength was measured using an isokinetic machine during concentric and eccentric contractions of the hamstrings and quadriceps. Meanwhile, landing biomechanics was measured by the Landing Error Scoring System. Results: No significant differences were observed in individual muscle strength, H/Q CONV, and H/QFUNC ratio. The biomechanical landing markers showed a significantly higher score in PRE (P = 0.004; effect size = 0.32) and POST5 (P = 0.007; effect size = 0.29) in the FIFA 11+ group compared to the control group. Conclusion: Twice a week for eight weeks of FIFA 11+ is adequate to detect positive changes in biomechanical markers of ACL injury during fatigue.