Athletes with a history of non-contact ACL injury exhibit poorer inhibitory control and visual attention performance than healthy athletes

Abstract

Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries significantly impact athletes’ performance, and a neurocognitive approach, particularly executive functions, may play a relevant role in ACL injury. The aim was to evaluate and compare performance on inhibitory control and visual attention using the Flanker Task and Multiple Object Tracking (MOT) cognitive tests between athletes with and without a history of non-contact ACL injury. 60 athletes of interaction sports (30 athletes with no history of ACL injury and 30 athletes with a history of non-contact ACL injury) participated in this study. During the experimental session participants performed Flanker Task and Multiple Object Tracking to evaluate inhibitory control and visual attention, respectively. Athletes with a history of non-contact ACL injury had longer reaction times than healthy athletes on the Flanker Task cognitive test (p < 0.001). For the MOT, athletes with a history of non-contact ACL injury had worse two-ball follow-through at speeds of 19.9 deg/s (p = 0.034) and 28.8 deg/s (p < 0.001) and three-ball follow-through at speeds of 19.9 deg/s (p = 0.009) and 28.8 deg/s (p < 0.001). Athletes with a history of non-contact ACL injury exhibit poorer cognitive performance than athletes without a history of ACL injury in inhibitory control, particularly interference control and visual attention. Therefore, rehabilitators and exercise professionals should consider the assessment and training of executive functions into the rehabilitation process for ACL injuries.