Injury prevention programs that include balance training exercises reduce ankle injury rates among soccer players: a systematic review

Key Points

1. Balance training effectively reduces the risk of ankle sprain with a 36% risk reduction per 1000 hours of exposure.

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BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE

Ankle sprains are one of the most common acute injuries occurring in team sports such as soccer. Large cohorts of athletes do not fully recover after ankle sprain, developing chronic symptoms such as instability, pain, and recurrent injury. There is a need to develop effective strategies for the primary prevention of ankle sprains in soccer; it is also important that these can be easily implemented into clinical practice.

This systematic review and meta-analysis examined if injury prevention programs that include balance training exercises effectively reduce the incidence of ankle sprains among soccer players.

Large cohorts of athletes do not fully recover after ankle sprain, developing chronic symptoms such as instability and pain.

Clinicians should encourage a minimum of 2-3 balance training sessions each week.

METHODS

This review was prospectively registered, and its methods aligned with Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines. The search strategy was clear, and two authors independently examined four core databases (Cochrane, Web of Sci, Pubmed, PEDro).

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