ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Physiol.
Sec. Exercise Physiology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fphys.2025.1630156
A specific reconditioning training program implemented 12 months after ACL surgery improves lower-limb jump variables in amateur soccer players
Provisionally accepted
- 1Sport Sciences Research Centre, Rey Juan Carlos University, 28943 Fuenlabrada, Spain, Madrid, Spain
- 2Faculty of Sport Sciences, University of Extremadura, Cáceres, Spain, Cáceres, Spain
- 3Science-Based Training Research Group (SEJ-680), Physical Performance and Sports Research Center, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, 41013 Seville, Spain, Seville, Spain
- 4Faculty of Sports Sciences, Department of Sports and Computer Sciences, Universidad Pablo de Olavide,41013 Seville, Spain, Seville, Spain
- 5Grupo de Investigación en Deporte y Educación Física para el Desarrollo Personal y Social (GIDEPSO), Faculty of Education Sciences and Psychology, University of Córdoba,, Córdoba, Spain
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This study aimed to assess the impact of a 12-week reconditioning training program, focusing on adjacent joint mobility, neuromuscular control, plyometrics, stability-landing exercises, and strength production, of amateur soccer players 12 months after undergoing anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) surgery. Twenty-five Spanish male amateur soccer players (age = 21.2±2.4 years) participated voluntarily. All participants followed similar return-to-play guidelines and were randomly assigned to either the control group (CG, n=13) or the experimental group (EG, n=12). Soccer players in the EG underwent the 12-week training program (ACLrPRO), and both groups completed jump battery tests before and after the intervention period. The results showed improvements in all analyzed variables for the EG, except for the time to stabilization during the single-leg land and hold test for their non-injured leg, where the CG showed better results. Moreover, players in the CG exhibited a decline in performance related to their non-injured leg across all performed tests. The EG also demonstrated lower absence days during the experimental period compared to the CG. These findings underscore the significance of implementing a targeted neuromuscular training program for soccer players recovering from an ACL rupture, especially in enhancing performance and reducing absence days after their return to competition.
Keywords: Anterior Cruciate Ligament, Football, Neuromuscular training, return to play, Recovery
Received: 16 May 2025; Accepted: 23 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Jiménez-Rubio, Garcia-Calvo, Martínez-Aranda and Raya-González. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Luis Manuel Martínez-Aranda, Science-Based Training Research Group (SEJ-680), Physical Performance and Sports Research Center, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, 41013 Seville, Spain, Seville, Spain
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