title: Prevention of sports injury I: a systematic review of applied biomechanics and physiology outcomes research.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To analyse published articles that used interventions aimed at investigating biomechanical/physiological outcomes (ie, intermediate risk factors) for sport injury prevention in order to characterise the state of the field and identify important areas not covered in the literature.
  
  
  METHODS
  PubMed, Cinahl, Web of Science and Embase were searched using a broad search strategy.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Only 144 of 2525 articles retrieved by the search strategy met the inclusion criteria. Crossover study designs increased by 175% in the late 1980s until 2005 but have declined 32% since then. Randomised controlled trial (RCT) study designs increased by 650% since the early 1980s. Protective equipment studies (61.8% of all studies) declined by 35% since 2000, and training studies (35.4% of all studies) increased by 213%. Equipment research studied stability devices (83.1%) and attenuating devices (13.5%) whereas training research studied balance and coordination (54.9%), strength and power (43.1%) and stretching (15.7%). Almost all (92.1%) studies investigated the lower extremity and 78.1% were of the joint (non-bone)-ligament type. Finally, 57.5% of the reports studied contact sports, 24.2% collision and 25.8% non-contact sports.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The decrease in crossover study design and increase in RCTs over time suggest a shift in study design for injury prevention articles. Another notable finding was the change in research focus from equipment interventions, which have been decreasing since 2000 (35% decline), to training interventions, which have been increasing (213% increase). Finally, there is very little research on overuse or upper extremity injuries.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Clinical Epidemiology and Community Studies, Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research, Jewish General Hospital, 3755 Cote Ste-Catherine Road, Montreal, QC, Canada.
authors.forename: Kellen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: McBain
authors.forename: Ian
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Shrier
authors.forename: Rebecca
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Shultz
authors.forename: Willem H
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Meeuwisse
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Klügl
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Garza
authors.forename: Gordon O
authors.initials: GO
authors.lastname: Matheson
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001265:Athletic Injuries / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D035843:Biomedical Research / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D018592:Cross-Over Studies; D005081:Exercise Therapy / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011482:Protective Devices / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D055502:Secondary Prevention; D055815:Young Adult