Electrocortical dynamics differentiate athletes exhibiting low‐ and high‐ ACL injury risk biomechanics

Abstract

Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries are physically and emotionally debilitating for athletes,while motor and biomechanical deficits that contribute to ACL injury have been identified, limited knowledge about the relationship between the central nervous system (CNS) and biomechanical patterns of motion has impeded approaches to optimize ACL injury risk reduction strategies. In the current study it was hypothesized that high‐risk athletes would exhibit altered temporal dynamics in their resting state electrocortical activity when compared to low‐risk athletes. Thirty‐eight female athletes performed a drop vertical jump (DVJ) to assess their biomechanical risk factors related to an ACL injury. The athletes' electrocortical activity was also recorded during resting state in the same visit as the DVJ assessment. Athletes were divided into low‐ and high‐risk groups based on their performance of the DVJ. Recurrence quantification analysis was used to quantify the temporal dynamics of two frequency bands previously shown to relate to sensorimotor and attentional control. Results revealed that high‐risk participants showed more deterministic electrocortical behavior than the low‐risk group in the frontal theta and central/parietal alpha‐2 frequency bands. The more deterministic resting state electrocortical dynamics for the high‐risk group may reflect maladaptive neural behavior—excessively stable deterministic patterning that makes transitioning among functional task‐specific networks more difficult—related to attentional control and sensorimotor processing neural regions.

Investigating Knee Joint Position Sense After Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction in Male Soccer Players

“…Muscle receptors, such as muscle spindles and Golgi apparatus, could significantly affect the proprioception. With ACL injury, the lack of afferent information from ACL mechanoreceptors leads to a weaker balance [21].…”

Can We Capitalize on Central Nervous System Plasticity in Young Athletes to Inoculate Against Injury?

“…Emergent evidence has shown that athletes with poor neuromuscular control that have not experienced an injury or may have yet to experience an injury as signified by high external peak knee abduction moments during a drop vertical jump, eliciting resting-state electrocortical activity that may signify the CNS cannot effectively transition from rest to move states [19]. Technological improvements have advanced this line of research from resting to active states by developing MRI-compatible motion capture systems that can now be used to capture lower extremity biomechanics concurrent with CNS function derived from fMRI [4,15].…”

Preliminary brain-behavioral neural correlates of anterior cruciate ligament injury risk landing biomechanics using a novel bilateral leg press neuroimaging paradigm

“…The sensory-motor coordination error nature of injury having a potential neural basis is supported by alterations in brain functional connectivity between regions important for sensorimotor control [ 10 , 16 ] and quadriceps neural inhibition [ 17 ] being prospectively identified for athletes who subsequently experienced an ACL injury. Further, athletes who presented with high ACL injury risk landing biomechanics exhibited more deterministic, and potentially maladaptive, patterns of electrocortical activity within frequency bands important for attention, cognition, and sensorimotor control [ 18 ]. However, the CNS assessments from these studies were completed while the participant was at rest (resting-state fMRI and EEG, respectively), warranting approaches that can assess brain activity during active, lower extremity movements.…”