The Kinetic Chain Has a Brain: Could Adding Cognitive Demands in Lower Limb Injury Prevention Programs Improve Outcomes?

SYNOPSIS: The most effective lower limb injury prevention programs include strength training, balance exercises, and instructions on how to land safely from a jump or hop. Yet, the programs are not 100% effective-lower extremity noncontact injuries continue to be a significant problem. We suggest that adding cognitive training to motor tasks that currently comprise current lower limb injury prevention programs might help clinicians, athletes, and coaches continue to make inroads into preventing knee injuries. We ground our hypotheses in robust findings from cognitive neuroscience and rehabilitation, suggesting that when task demands exceed the attentional capacity of an individual, the risk for noncontact lower extremity injuries increases. In this editorial, we explain the concepts of attentional capacity and attentional demands, and the interplay of the two in sport, to justify including cognitive tasks to injury prevention programs to improve outcomes. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther 2023;53(4):1-3. doi:10.2519/jospt.2023.11403.