Relationship Between Proprioceptive Flexibility and the Occurrence of Lower Limb Ligament Injury in Pivot-contact Sports
University Hospital, Montpellier
150 participants
Jun 30, 2025
INTERVENTIONAL
Conditions
Summary
Among young athletes involved in pivot and pivot-contact sports (soccer, handball, rugby, etc.), lateral ankle sprains and lesions of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) are the most frequent ligament injuries. Despite existing prevention programs, these injuries lead to prolonged downtime, risk of recurrence and long-term sequelae. A little-studied risk factor is proprioceptive rigidity, defined as the central nervous system's difficulty in adapting the use of sensory information (proprioception) according to environment and motor context. This deficit could limit the ability to maintain balance in high-risk situations, thereby increasing the likelihood of injury. To our knowledge, there is no evidence of a direct link between proprioceptive profile (flexible/rigid) and the incidence of lower-limb ligament injury. If such a link is established, preventive strategies focusing on the recovery of an optimal proprioceptive profile could be developed in an attempt to limit the occurrence of ligament injuries in young elite and sub-elite athletes, and thus limit the medical, financial and personal repercussions for these athletes.
Eligibility
Inclusion Criteria3
- Athlete practicing in a high-level program
- Aged between 14 and 25
- Practicing a pivot-contact sport (rugby, soccer, handball)
Exclusion Criteria7
- Lower limb injury <6 weeks prior to inclusion
- Concussion <6 weeks prior to inclusion
- Known neurological or vestibular disorder
- Lack of consent from athlete or legal guardians
- Non-affiliation with a social security scheme
- Persons under court protection
- Participant in another study with an ongoing exclusion period
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Interventions
Proprioceptive profile is measured by assessing static bipodal balance on a force platform. The patient is asked to stand motionless in bipodal support on a stable and then unstable floor, with vision masked by an eye mask. The investigators randomly apply a tendon vibration (80Hz) to the subjects' Achilles tendons or paravertebral muscles. This vibration alters proprioceptive information in the vibrated zone, leading to a disturbance in postural balance and an increased displacement of the center of pressure, whose position is continuously calculated from the force platform's sensors. Thus, depending on the amount of displacement of the center of pressure, the investigator calculates a proprioceptive weighting ratio (PWR) to deduce the weight assigned by the Central Nervous System to the various proprioceptive inputs during the postural task. An PWR of 1 indicates 100% use of information from the ankle, while an PWR of 0 means 100% use of information from the hip.
Locations(1)
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NCT07028723