The ISPAInt Injury Prevention Programme for Youth Competitive Alpine Skiers: A Controlled 12-Month Experimental Study in a Real-World Training Setting

Abstract

Evidence-based injury prevention programmes for youth competitive alpine skiers are widely absent. The aims of this controlled 12-month experimental study were to introduce a novel injury prevention programme targeted to the injury patterns of youth skiers, called ISPAInt, and to compare the differences in injury occurrence between an intervention group (IG) additionally performing the ISPAInt programme and an independent, historical control group (CG) following their regular training routines. None of the skiers of the CG were part of the IG and vice versa. The study was directly conducted within the real-world youth development structures of skiers competing at the under 16 years (U16) level in Switzerland. Seventy-one skiers (aged 14.4 ± 0.3 years) assigned to the IG were compared to 58 age- and gender-matched controls. The IG was offered the ISPAInt programme with the recommendation to perform it at least once per week. Skiers’ adherence to this recommendation was surveyed but not enforced. Injuries were recorded using the Oslo Sports Trauma Research Centre Questionnaire. Primary outcomes were the absolute injury rates (number of injuries/100 athletes per season) and epidemiological incidence proportion (number of injured athletes/100 athletes per season). The secondary outcome was the average 2-weekly prevalence of traumatic knee, knee overuse, and lower back overuse injuries. There were lower absolute rates of all traumatic injuries [rate/risk difference, RD: −57.1 (−98.1, −16.0); rate/risk ratio, RR: 0.665 (0.485, 0.884)] and overuse injuries [RD: −35.9 (−71.0, −0.7); RR: 0.699 (0.493, 0.989)] in the IG than in the CG. Likewise, the epidemiological incidence proportion for all overuse injuries was smaller in the IG [RD: −28.4 (−44.8, −12.0); RR: 0.598 (0.435, 0.822)], while the proportion of skiers suffering from traumatic injuries did not significantly differ between the groups. Notably, the IG particularity differed from the CG in the average 2-weekly prevalence of knee trauma, knee overuse, and lower back overuse complaints, three of the major injury-related hot spots in youth skiers. Based on these promising results, the ISPAInt programme may have great potential to prevent injuries in youth competitive alpine skiers, and the underlying exercises should be considered complementary training content at the U16 level.

Effectiveness of Multi-Component Interventions on Injury Risk Among Ice and Snow Sports Participants - A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…In our study, educational training programs primarily based on proprioceptive training signi cantly prevented lower limb injuries, but further detailed research is needed to determine whether they can reduce knee injuries. Additionally, the intervention group showed a lower average 2-week injury rate in traumatic knee injuries, knee overuse injuries, and lower back overuse injuries compared to the control group [11,20,36]. Our ndings corroborate Schoeb et al's nding that youth skiers performing the ISPAInt program weekly at 0.8 ± 0.6 times had a lower absolute incidence of traumatic and overuse injuries.…”

“…Through literature search, review, and selection, among the 15 studies included in our analysis, we focused only on initial injuries, as repeated results are likely interdependent, potentially leading to bias. The included studies comprise 5 European Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs) [6,7,11,14,20], 3 Canadian RCTs [8, 18, 21], 1…”

“…The past decade has seen a continued increase in comprehensive analyses of ice and snow sports injuries. Recent studies have shifted focus towards educational training programs [11,20], educational videos [14,21], and changes in ice and snow sports policies and regulations [8, 10,11,12,22,23], exploring the effectiveness of various intervention measures. Although previous reviews and experimental studies have evaluated the e cacy of certain speci c programs [24], the diversity in content, design, target populations, and outcome reporting across different studies has limited the effective utilization of research ndings.…”

“…The effectiveness of educational training interventions in reducing injuries in ice and snow sports was studied in 3 experiments involving a total of 1,590 participants[8,11,20]. The educational training programs included the ISPAInt program and high-intensity neuromuscular training (NMT) program.…”

We know a lot about little and little about a lot: A contextualized scoping review on injury prevention in alpine ski racing

“…Studies included in Stage 6 recorded and analyzed injury data of WC athletes during nine WC seasons (2006–2015) and Austrian athletes of different competition levels for 17 years (2001–2017) 12,171 . Furthermore, an injury prevention program was conducted targeting the specific injury patterns of youth competitive alpine skiers of the Swiss U16 category over 12 months in their real‐world training setting while comparing their injury occurrence to age‐ and training‐matched control groups 172 …”