THE INFLUENCE OF GROWTH AND PUBERTAL MATURATION ON NEUROMUSCULAR PERFORMANCE IN HIGH-RISK FEMALE ATHLETES

Abstract

Purpose: It is well documented that post-pubescent adolescent female athletes suffer serious knee ligament injuries (eg. ACL injuries) at a rate four to six-fold greater than male athletes in the same sports. Neuromuscular differences in dynamic control of the knee joint have been reported to play a significant role in the gender discrepancy in knee injury incidence. The purpose of our analysis was to determine the effects of puberty on the neuromuscular system which might account for this gender gap. METHODS: We analyzed the existing developmental literature relative to neuromuscular changes in boys and girls during and following puberty. We analyzed findings which were reliably and consistently reported across the published developmental literature. RESULTS: A significant increase in mean strength, neuromuscular performance and power occurs in adolescent boys within one year of peak velocity of growth in height and weight. No such neuromuscular performance spurt occurs in girls following peak growth in height and weight. More specifically, the Adolescent Growth Study from the University of California demonstrated significant correlations between chronological age and standing long jump (v = 0.71) and vertical jump (0.53) in boys but not in the standing long jump (−0.22) and vertical jump (0.11) of girls. CONCLUSION: These data demonstrate that during and following puberty, coincident with dramatic increases in height and weight, boys have a significant spurt in neuromuscular performance measures, while girls do not. These findings may underlie the neuromuscular differences in adolescent male and female athletes previously reported in the literature. The findings may also underlie the post-pubescent gender gap in knee injury incidence. Hence, dynamic neuromuscular training, previously demonstrated to significantly increase neuromuscular performance in female athletes, conducted during puberty, may sinificantly reduce the gender gap in neuromuscular performance and knee injury incidence in adolescent athletes.