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Adolescent female soccer players experience anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) knee injuries at a rate that is more than twice that of their male counterparts. Can such injuries — which are season-ending and associated with premature arthritis — be prevented? In a randomized controlled trial, with Swedish soccer clubs as the unit of randomization, investigators evaluated the effectiveness of neuromuscular training on lowering the rate of acute knee injury in adolescent female soccer players.
Overall, 4600 adolescent players (age range, 12–17 years) participated in the study. Two thirds were instructed in how to perform a 15-minute warm-up program that focused on knee control and core stability and consisted of 5 minutes of jogging followed by …