The effectiveness of an online intervention in stimulating injury-preventive behaviour in adult novice runners. Results of a randomised controlled trial.

Abstract

Background In addition to the beneficial health effects of being active, running is also associated with a risk of sustaining injuries. The online intervention Runfitcheck was developed to stimulate injury-preventive behaviour among adult novice runners. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of Runfitcheck on injury-preventive behaviour among adult novice runners. Design Randomised controlled trial Methods A randomised controlled trial with a follow-up period of five months was conducted among adult novice runners. The intervention group had access to the Runfitcheck intervention, while the control group performed their running activities as usual. One, three, and five months after enrolment, participants reported retrospectively what they had done regarding injury-preventive behaviour (operationalised as (i) using a (personalised) training schedule; (ii) performing strength and technique exercises; and (iii) performing a warm-up routine prior to running). Relative Risks ((RR) and 95% Confidence Interval (95%CI)) were used to analyse behavioural change among runners who were not performing the favourable behaviour at enrolment. Results A total of 1,411 novice runners (72.6% female, mean age 38.1 years) were included in this study and assigned to the intervention group (n=715) or control group (n=696). Runners in the intervention group searched more often for information about a warm-up routine (55.6% versus 44.9%; RR 1.211 (95%CI 1.080-1.357); Table 2), and added more often strength exercises to their warm-up routine (49.3% versus 38.2%; RR 1.228 (95%CI 1.092-1.380)). Runners in the intervention group performed more often running technique exercises compared to runners in the control group (58.6% versus 51.5%; RR 1.134 (95%CI 1.015-1.267)), but less often strength exercises (71.9% versus 77.9%; RR 0.865 (95%CI 0.752-0.995)). Within the group of runners that did not perform any warm-up routine at enrolment (n=272; 69.5% female, mean age 35.8 years (SD 9.3), runners in the intervention group performed a regular warm-up routine more often than runners in the control group (47.1% versus 28.4%; n=196; RR 1.461 (95%CI 1.084-1.968)) No significant results were found for using a training schedule. Conclusions The online intervention Runfitcheck was effective in stimulating aspects of injury-preventive behaviour in adult novice runners, mostly related to a warm-up routine.

Can running-related injuries be prevented through an online behavioural intervention in adult novice runners? Results of a randomised controlled trial

“…In a previous study by Kemler et al , positive effects were found of the Runfitcheck on injury preventive behaviour of novice runners. 14 The assumption was made that increased injury preventive behaviour using the Runfitcheck would ultimately lead to a decrease in RRIs. However, this study did not demonstrate these positive effects to prevent RRI.…”

“…Therefore, interventions for preventing RRI in novice runners are important 8 9. Although such interventions are limited, the studies available have shown their positive effect on behavioural aspects in runners 13 14. Studies evaluating the effect of such online interventions on RRIs are limited as well 15 16.…”

“…Runfitcheck is a tailored online intervention (see online supplemental file 1 ), which promotes injury preventive behaviour and provides tools to runners to listen to their body’s signals based on the load-taking capacity profile and running motivation of novice runners. 17 This intervention was found effective in encouraging preventive behaviour, 14 but the effectiveness of RRIs is unknown. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of the Runfitcheck on time until the onset of a new RRI among adult novice runners.…”