Increases in Agility and Quantitative Movement Quality Following a Coach‐Led, Basketball‐Specific Neuromuscular Training Warm‐Up Programme in Adolescent Athletes

BACKGROUND: Coach-led, basketball-specific neuromuscular training (NMT) warm-up programs have been shown to reduce injury risk. However, changes in agility and movement quality following such NMT in high school basketball players are not well characterized. METHODS: In this pre-experimental study, high school basketball players (42 males, 31 females, 16 ± 1.4 years) performed a 10-minute, coach-led, basketball-specific NMT warm-up programme before practices and games (10-14 weeks). Changes in the Lane Agility Test (LAT) and single-leg squat (SLS) kinematics, encompassing trunk, pelvis, hip, and lower extremity kinematics and a composite score (SLS Score), from pre-to post-intervention were assessed. Relationships between pre-intervention scores, sex, the number of NMT sessions completed, and outcomes were assessed with linear regressions. RESULTS: LAT completion times decreased following the NMT intervention, with larger changes associated with slower pre-intervention scores and more completed NMT sessions. SLS Scores were higher after the NMT intervention, potentially attributable to better pelvic and hip kinematics. CONCLUSIONS: In this single-arm preliminary and exploratory study, favourable changes in agility and SLS kinematics following a coach-led, basketball-specific NMT programme were observed, with preliminary evidence of a dose-response relationship for agility. However, this study was non-randomized and lacked a control group. Therefore, these results should not be interpreted to suggest a causal relationship between the NMT performed and the changes in outcomes. In addition to NMT's role in injury prevention, coaches and players should be cognizant about performance and movement quality changes potentially associated with this accessible version of NMT.