Effectiveness of anterior cruciate ligament injury prevention programmes in sport: a scoping review

BackgroundAnterior cruciate ligament injury is the most common ligament injury of the knee and one of the most serious and common injuries in sport. This injury causes a number of both short-term and longterm negative consequences that negatively impact both sports performance and quality of life in general. The literature has recognised the need to improve primary prevention with the aim of decreasing the ACL injury rate. For this reason, numerous ACL-specific prevention programmes have been proposed in recent years that include various types of exercises and different methods of administration. The main objective of this scoping will be to report what the literature tells us about these programmes and prevention for ACL injuries. Inclusion criteriaEvery study about prevention programmes for LCA injury on athletes of all ages participating in professional or amateur sports will be included. This scoping review will consider studies conducted in any context. MethodsThe proposed scoping review will be conducted in accordance with the Joanna Briggs Institute methodology (JBI) for scoping reviews. The search will be carried out on 6 databases: MEDLINE, Cochrane Central, Scopus, CINHAL, Embase, and PEDro. Selection and data extraction will be conducted by two blind independent researchers and inconsistencies will be resolved by a third reviewer. The results will be presented in a schematic, tabular and descriptive format that will line up with the objectives and scope of the review. ConclusionsThis review provides a comprehensive overview of prevention for ACL injuries in sport, in particular the effectiveness of existing prevention programmes. The information provided will be useful for physiotherapists and athletic trainers during the sports season and as a therapeutic education tool. The results of this research will be published in scientific research databases.