Effect of neuromuscular training augmented with knee valgus control instructions on lower limb biomechanics of male runners.

Running injuries are often linked to how the knee tracks during landing, particularly a collapsing-inward pattern called knee valgus. This trial asked whether adding specific verbal cues about controlling knee valgus to a standard neuromuscular training program would change lower limb movement patterns and injury rates in male novice runners, compared with neuromuscular training alone or a sham program. Sixty runners were split into three groups and followed for a year.

The group receiving neuromuscular training plus valgus control instructions showed significant differences in landing forces compared to the other groups after six weeks, though movement pattern changes were not significantly different from the neuromuscular training only group. Reported running-related injuries were lower in the combined group than in the training-only group, while the sham group's injury rate rose. The main limitation is the small sample size split across three groups, which limits how confidently these findings generalize.

If you're a runner, you may have heard that how your knee moves when you land can affect injury risk, especially a pattern where the knee drifts inward. This study looked at whether adding coaching cues about controlling that inward knee movement, on top of a standard injury-prevention exercise program, made a difference for novice male runners compared to the exercise program alone or a sham routine, over one year. The group that got both the exercises and the specific knee-position coaching showed changes in the forces their legs experienced during running, and fewer runners in that group reported injuries over the year compared to those doing exercises alone.

The sham group's injury reports actually went up. That said, this was a small study, just sixty runners split into three groups, so it can't tell us definitively that this approach works for all runners, and the exercise-only and combined groups weren't clearly different in how runners moved.

This is a summary of research, not medical advice. Talk to your own healthcare provider about anything affecting your care.

This RCT randomised 60 male novice runners to neuromuscular training (NMT) alone, NMT plus knee valgus control instructions (VCIs), or a sham program, assessing kinematics, kinetics, and injury incidence at baseline, post-test, and one-year follow-up. Between-group differences in kinetic variables were significant after six weeks specifically in the NMT plus VCIs group, but kinematic variables did not differ significantly between the two active intervention groups, meaning the added verbal cueing did not clearly separate movement pattern outcomes from NMT alone.

The sham group showed no significant change in any variable across the study period. At one-year follow-up, kinetic changes were described as minimal, raising questions about durability of effect. Reported injury reduction was 31.58% in NMT alone and 65.52% in NMT plus VCIs, while the sham group saw a 13.46% increase, though these are descriptive injury incidence figures rather than a formally powered comparison.

With only 20 participants per arm, confidence intervals and statistical power for injury outcomes are not detailed, and the trial does not establish whether VCIs caused superior outcomes versus NMT alone on movement patterns specifically.