Preliminary Report on the Train the Brain Project, Part I: Sensorimotor Neural Correlates of Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury Risk Biomechanics.

Context: Anterior cruciate ligament injury commonly occurs via noncontact motor coordination errors that result in excessive multiplanar loading during athletic movements. Preventing motor coordination errors requires neural sensorimotor integration activity to support knee-joint neuromuscular control, but the underlying neural mechanisms driving injury-risk motor control are not well understood.

Objective: To evaluate brain activity differences for knee sensorimotor control between athletes with high or low injury-risk mechanics.

Design: Case-control study.

Setting: Research laboratory.

Patients Or Other Participants: Of 38 female high school soccer players screened, 10 were selected for analysis based on magnetic resonance imaging compliance, injury-risk classification via 3-dimensional biomechanics during a drop vertical jump, and matching criteria to complete neuroimaging during knee motor tasks.

Main Outcome Measure(s): Peak knee-abduction moment during landing was used for group allocation into the high (≥21.74 newton meters [Nm], n = 9) or low (≤10.6 Nm, n = 11) injury-risk classification (n = 11 uncategorized, n = 7 who were not compliant with magnetic resonance imaging). Ten participants (5 high risk, 5 low risk) with adequate data were matched and compared across 2 neuroimaging paradigms: unilateral knee-joint control and unilateral multijoint leg press against resistance.

Results: Athletes with high injury-risk biomechanics had less neural activity in 1 sensory-motor cluster for isolated knee-joint control (precuneus, peak Z score = 4.14, P ≤ .01, 788 voxels) and greater brain activity for the multijoint leg press in 2 cognitive-motor clusters: the frontal cortex (peak Z score = 4.71, P < .01, 1602 voxels) and posterior cingulate gyrus (peak Z score = 4.43, P < .01, 725 voxels) relative to the low injury-risk group.

Conclusions: The high injury-risk group's lower relative engagement of neural sensory resources controlling the knee joint may elevate demand on cognitive motor resources to control loaded multijoint action. The neural activity profile in the high injury-risk group may manifest as a breakdown in neuromuscular coordination, resulting in elevated knee-abduction moments during landing.