The effect of a neuromuscular-cognitive training program on postural stability, hop performance, and agility in Division-I Women's Tennis athletes: A pilot study

Background: Situational awareness and cognitive function are often discounted in sports training programs, potentially limiting their effectiveness. Objective: This research aimed to examine the effect of a six-week neuromuscular-cognitive training program on postural stability, hop performance, and agility with and without perceptual-cognitive challenge in a tennis team. Design: Double baseline, quasi-experimental pretest-posttest. Methods: Ten collegiate female tennis athletes volunteered to participate in this study. Participants completed two baseline testing sessions, a six-week training program, and a post-test session one week after the training program. Participants completed the neuromuscular-cognitive training twice a week for six weeks. The training integrated cognitive load (e.g., working memory and inhibitory control) during exercise (e.g., balance and shuffling). At each data collection session, subjects completed a single-limb stance on a force plate with and without an upper extremity reaction test, single-leg hop, single-leg memory hop, reactive agility, and a lower extremity reaction task. Pre-to post-intervention changes were analyzed using t-tests with corresponding Hedge's g effect sizes. Results were considered significant when p ≤ 0.05 and Hedge's g effect sizes were moderate to strong. Results: Statistically significant improvements were identified for single and dual-task anteroposterior mean center of pressure velocity (g = −0.684–0.803), single-task time-to-boundary mediolateral mean minima (g = 0.921), and single and dual-task time-to-boundary anteroposterior mean minima (0.708–0.830). Additionally, significant improvements were identified in the upper extremity reaction task during the dual-task static balance (g = −0.795). Conclusion: Neuromuscular-cognitive training may be beneficial in improving postural stability outcomes; however, more research is needed to develop this type of training further.