Bridging the gap in ACL injury prevention with FAME: Field-based Athlete Motion Evaluation and simulation (FAME)

Project leader: Anne Koelewijn
Project members:
Start date: 15. January 2024
Funding source: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)

Abstract

There is a gap in research aimed at preventing anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries in sports. Although promising ACL injury prevention exercise programs (IPEPs) have been developed, large-scale adoption and effective usage of these programs has been poor in the real-world. One reason for this gap is that the protective mechanisms underlying current ACL IPEPs are unclear, hindering the flexible implementation of these exercise programs in a given sports context. The ACL IPEP mechanisms remain unclear because the assessment of ACL loading during athletic movements – as an indirect measure of injury risk – is currently restricted to highly-constrained laboratory environments and thus not representative of ACL injury scenarios. The proposed project aims to bridge the gap in ACL injury prevention with FAME – field-based athlete motion evaluation and simulation.