Effect of a neuromuscular training program on the kinetics and kinematics of jumping tasks.

In their study, 30 female college athletes performed a neuromuscular training program before practice 6 days per week for 6 weeks. Chappell and Limpisvasti reported task-specific improvements in kinetic and kinematic parameters after participants completed the intervention. Interestingly, they also concluded that " Completion of a 6-week neuromuscular training program improved select athletic performance measures, " referring to vertical jump performance and a 20-foot single-legged hop test for time. It is this performance-related conclusion that I would like to comment on in this letter. The athletes participating in this study were National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I female basketball and soccer players. It is common for Division I collegiate programs to have strength and conditioning coaches to train their athletes during the academic year. Therefore it would be surprising if the only training performed by the participating athletes during the 6-week study was the neuromuscular intervention. I would suspect that the participants were following a structured training regimen during the course of the study period that probably included some form of resistance training and other plyometric exercises, which have been illustrated by others to improve jump performance by 5% to 9%. 4,5,10 Unfortunately, no details were provided by Chappell and Limpisvasti about the current training regimen of the athletes in their study. If my assumption about Division I collegiate athletic programs and strength and conditioning is correct, it would nullify the cause and effect conclusion made by the authors that enhanced performance was a result of simply completing the neuromuscular warm-up routine. The high level of performance of the participants, as evidenced by the mean vertical jump scores at baseline, strengthens the argument that performing 2 nonspecific plyometric drills (the only exercises in the neuro-muscular training program that would conceivably impact performance of the 2 tests in the current study) were not the reason for the observed 7% to 8% improvement in performance. Recent evidence suggests that neuromuscular programs designed as structured warm-up routines have limited influence on performance in female athletes, 1,3,6,9,11 noting the lack of intensity and/or volume as the likely explanation for these outcomes. 9 Yet these injury prevention programs have proven beneficial for improving lower extremity neuromuscular and biomechanical characteristics 8,12 ; enhancing stability 7 ; and reducing landing forces. 2 Drills performed in other investigations 1,3,11 have focused on reducing landing forces, and only when jump drills were performed with maximal effort, placing a greater …