Role of strengthening exercises in management and prevention of overuse sports injuries of lower extremity: a systematic review

Overuse injuries are common in sports involving jumping, running, and landing, due to the repetitive nature of these activities and the strain they place on the lower extremity. The objective of the study was to determine the role of strengthening exercises in the management of overuse sports injuries of lower extremity and its effects on prevention of injury recurrence. This study employed a systematic review design. The author extracted and reviewed the papers for this study in accordance with Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) criteria, and then used the PEDro scale to rate the articles' quality. For the most recent and well-developed primary data, several electronic databases including Google Scholar, PubMed Central, MEDLINE, Cochrane Library, and PEDro were exhaustively searched. Inclusion criteria were based on PICO (T) model and included study population, intervention nature, outcome measures, time period, methodological quality, and linguistic extent. The data synthesis involved analyzing randomized control/clinical trials on strengthening exercises for lower extremity overuse sports injuries in athletes, considering outcomes including muscle strength, pain scores, return to sports, and injury prevention. The methodological quality of the recruited articles ranged from excellent to fair on PEDro scale. Three included studies investigated the effects of strengthening exercises on management of lower extremity injuries of athletes. Four studies evaluated its role on prevention from recurrence of injuries. This study has concluded that strength training plays a fundamental role in management and prevention of overuse injuries. It not only improves the muscle performance, fitness level, speed and agility in sports but also decreases the pain, and aids in early recovery from an injury.