The Effect of Motor Imagery on Preventing Volleyball Players During Jumping and Landing

NCT ID: NCT07009080

Last Updated: 2025-09-03

Study Results

Results pending

The study team has not published outcome measurements, participant flow, or safety data for this trial yet. Check back later for updates.

Basic Information

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Recruitment Status

RECRUITING

Clinical Phase

NA

Total Enrollment

30 participants

Study Classification

INTERVENTIONAL

Study Start Date

2025-06-09

Study Completion Date

2025-09-30

Brief Summary

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Although the effectiveness of motor imagery in improving performance in sports is known, there is no research on its preventive role against injuries. the primary aim of this study is to investigate the effect of motor imagery on improving risk factors related to jumps and falls in volleyball players. The secondary aim of this study is to investigate the effect of motor imagery on cortical functions.

Detailed Description

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The nature of volleyball includes serving, blocking, and/or spiking, which require players to jump frequently. This high demand on the lower extremity causes high injury rates: approximately 58.7% of all injuries involve lower extremities, among which 51.8% are non-contact injuries . The knee accounts for 58% of lower extremity injuries -15.2% of which involve ACL- while 25.9% affect the ankle, including ligament injuries, sprains, and strains . These high injury rates cause players to lose game-time, 4.49 per 1000 hours for competition and 3.43 per 1000 hours for practice hours and cause their clubs to lose money .

Most studies in the literature focused on ACL injuries and they reported numerous risk factors, such as anatomic, hormonal, biomechanical, and unanticipated. Of these biomechanical risk factors, increased anterior tibial shear force, decreased knee flexion while landing, increased knee valgus, knee and hip internal rotation, and hip adduction were reported as the most important. These joint angle errors are reported to be the cause of 47.5% of the knee injuries in volleyball during jumping and falling . Also, altered kinetics in landing are suggested to potentially increase risk for ankle recurrent injury .

Recent studies have identified core and joint stabilization, stretching, strengthening, balance, mobilization, and flexibility exercises as a pivotal factor in preventing knee injuries in volleyball . In addition to these training programs, which help promote safer landing mechanics, training proper landing is also beneficial in injury prevention both for knee injuries and for ankle injuries.

Motor imagery (MI) is a contemporary method defined as a mental simulation of an action that is not actually performed . There are multiple brain areas, mostly motor areas, accepted to be involved in MI, but there is little evidence explaining the underlying mechanisms. Especially, the prefrontal cortex, involved in executive functions, is shown to be activated during MI tasks, but their interaction are not fully defined . MI has been described as a promising technique to facilitate the learning and improvement of motor skills in sports, education, and rehabilitation areas involving physical applications. Although the effectiveness of motor imagery in improving performance and learning new motor skills in sports is known, there is no research on its preventive role against injuries. The primary aim of this study was to investigate the effect of motor imagery on improving injury-causing factors related to jumps and falls in volleyball players. The secondary aim of this study was to investigate the effect of motor imagery on cortical functions.

Conditions

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Motor Imagery

Study Design

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Allocation Method

RANDOMIZED

Intervention Model

PARALLEL

randomized controlled
Primary Study Purpose

PREVENTION

Blinding Strategy

SINGLE

Participants

Study Groups

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solo training

Prior to the study, a video recording with the correct jump and landing kinematics, showing the correct hip, knee, and ankle flexion angles , will be recorded by the researchers. The video will be a minute long, consisting of front and side angles, and featured a professional volleyball player who won't be included in the study. Players in solo training group individually underwent the training.For standardization purposes, no questions will allowed during the training session. In the training session, players will be asked to watch the correct landing video at a slightly slower speed and contemplate the appropriate hip, knee, and ankle angles. Then, the researcher explained correct landing mechanics, while referring to the correct landing video, pointed out the common errors, and described how to correct them.The researcher then will explain to the players what MI is and how it works.

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

motor imagery

Intervention Type OTHER

The researcher will explain to the players what MI is and how it works. Following the explanation, players will seated in a comfortable armchair facing the researcher, will ask to minimize distracting thoughts, and to be as mindful as possible without speaking for five minutes, and to imagine themselves executing the correct angles during a landing.

group training

Prior to the study, a video recording with the correct jump and landing kinematics, showing the correct hip, knee, and ankle flexion angles, will be recorded by the researchers. The video will be a minute long, consisting of front and side angles, and featured a professional volleyball player who will not included in the study. Players in the GT group underwent the training as a group in a quiet, climate-controlled room. For standardization purposes, no questions were allowed during the training session. In the training session, players were asked to watch the correct landing video at a slightly slower speed and contemplate the appropriate hip, knee, and ankle angles. Then, the researcher explained correct landing mechanics, while referring to the correct landing video, pointed out the common errors, and described how to correct them.The researcher then will explain to the players what MI is and how it works.

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

motor imagery

Intervention Type OTHER

The researcher will explain to the players what MI is and how it works. Following the explanation, players will seated in a comfortable armchair facing the researcher, will ask to minimize distracting thoughts, and to be as mindful as possible without speaking for five minutes, and to imagine themselves executing the correct angles during a landing.

control training

Players only participate in evaluations

Group Type NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

Interventions

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motor imagery

The researcher will explain to the players what MI is and how it works. Following the explanation, players will seated in a comfortable armchair facing the researcher, will ask to minimize distracting thoughts, and to be as mindful as possible without speaking for five minutes, and to imagine themselves executing the correct angles during a landing.

Intervention Type OTHER

Eligibility Criteria

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Inclusion Criteria

* To be between the ages of 15 and 25,
* Not have an injury that affects the player's training program
* Play regularly for a professional team.

Exclusion Criteria

* had lower extremity injury in the last two months
* who had been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
Minimum Eligible Age

15 Years

Maximum Eligible Age

25 Years

Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Sponsors

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Aydan Niziplioğlu

OTHER

Sponsor Role lead

Responsible Party

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Aydan Niziplioğlu

MSc.Physiotherapist

Responsibility Role SPONSOR_INVESTIGATOR

Locations

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Fizyoostea

Gaziantep, Gaziantep, Turkey (Türkiye)

Site Status RECRUITING

Countries

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Turkey (Türkiye)

Central Contacts

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Özgün uysal, PhD.

Role: CONTACT

+90 505 918 46 61

Aydan niziplioğlu, MSc.

Role: CONTACT

+90 532 413 27 34

Facility Contacts

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niziplioğlu

Role: primary

05324132734

References

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Reference Type BACKGROUND
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Reference Type BACKGROUND
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Reference Type BACKGROUND
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Reference Type BACKGROUND
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Reference Type BACKGROUND
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Reference Type BACKGROUND
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Other Identifiers

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sportsMI

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id

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