Importance of Neuromuscular Training of Athletes. | Original Article

ABSTRACT:

Neuromuscular training programs are effective in improving the performance of an athlete; it plays an important role in the injury prevention as there has been strong evidence on its essence in the training programmes and in rehabilitation. They have been increasingly integrated into clinical practice for both the upper and lower extremity rehabilitation. Epidemiological studies have shown that sports and recreations injuries constitute to a major public health burden, the most common sports injuries are strains, dislocations and ligament injuries occurring at the knee, and upper extremities. Injuries to lower extremities are often associated with increased morbidity and long term disability. The prevention of injuries must be considered a primary goal in the interventional strategies of an athlete. Researches have shown that proprioceptive and neuromuscular abilities have a convinced impact on the injury risk. Advanced motor learning skill is necessary to accomplish complex motor tasks. The motor skills become repressed after injury and impair the performance of the athletes. The Neuromuscular training could be defined as training enhancing unconscious response by stimulating both afferent signals and central mechanisms responsible for dynamic joint control. The importance of program is to improve the nervous systems abilitsy to produce fast and optimal muscle firing pattern to improve, increase joint stability by co-contraction, to decrease joint forces and relearn movement patterns and skills. Systemic reviews have shown that neuromuscular training reduces reduces the incidence of sports injuries in athletes. Data was sourced through electronic bibliographic databases, reference lists of systematic reviews, meta-analyses form pub med, Medline, science direct and Cochrane. Studies have shown that a multi interventional training programs focusing on neuromuscular control must be incorporated to reduce the risk of injury and a regular inclusion of neuromuscular training program will help in injury prevention. In this study the importance of applied neuromuscular physiological principles and the clinical applications are discussed with evidence.