The effects of visual cognitive tasks on landing stability and lower extremity injury risk in high-level soccer players

Abstract

BackgroundVisual cognition plays a pivotal role in sports. It is widely recognized that there is an intriguing coupling that they could affect each other through interaction between visual cognition and motor control, but few studies linked the effects of visual cognitive tasks on landing stability to postural control and injury risk. Research questionWhether visual cognitive tasks affect the landing stability and lower limb injury risk of professional soccer players? MethodsThe current study used a three-dimensional Multiple Object Tracking (MOT) task to simulate visual cognitive difficulties experienced in soccer matches. Fifteen male high-level soccer athletes (height: 181.43 ± 7.36 cm, weight: 75.37 ± 10.67 kg, training years: 10.07 ± 2.98 yr) from our school team were recruited and completed a landing action from a high platform with and without MOT tasks. Vicon infrared high-speed motion capture system and three-dimensional force measuring platform were used to collect various outcomes simultaneously. ResultsThe Time to Stabilization (TTS) during landing was significantly prolonged, while the Medial-Lateral Stability Index (MLSI), Anterior-Posterior Stability (APSI), Dynamic Postural Index Stability Index (DPSI), the trajectory lengths, and envelope area of COP during landing were also increased during MOT dual-task. DiscussionThe decline of these indicators reflected the deterioration in postural stability and greater requirements for maintaining balance which could increase the risk of injury in soccer athletes. We advocate that adequate visual attention and visual information processing might play critical roles in maintaining dynamic balance through the supraspinal neural network.