The role of exercise interventions in preventing knee injuries among female basketball players: A systematic review

Background: Knee injuries, such as ligament injuries including the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), are among the most common non-contact injuries in team sports. This systematic review aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of exercise interventions in preventing knee injuries among female basketball players. Methods: This study was conducted as a systematic review following the PRISMA guidelines and registered in PROSPERO (ID: CRD42024517592). A comprehensive search was performed in Google Scholar, PubMed, Science Direct, PEDro, EMBASE, Web of Science, and Scopus using the following keywords: “Injury prevention program” OR “exercise training” OR “prevention training” OR “warm up program” OR “dynamic knee valgus” OR “knee injuries” OR “anterior cruciate ligament” OR “basketball player” OR “females” covering publications from 2000 to January 2025. All included studies were published in English. Results: Out of 1,749 records, 16 studies met the inclusion criteria. The exercise programs included plyometric, neuromuscular, balance, and multimodal interventions. Some studies reported statistically significant improvements in some outcomes associated with knee injury prevention, such as reduced dynamic knee valgus, increased knee flexion during landing, enhanced muscle activation, improved balance, and better jump performance. Conclusion: Overall, the evidence suggests that neuromuscular and multifaceted training programs, which include a combination of strength, balance, flexibility, plyometric, and agility exercises, may be effective in improving certain biomechanical factors associated with knee injury prevention in female basketball players. Incorporating technical feedback and supervised practice appears to enhance the effectiveness of these programs. Study registration: registered in PROSPERO with ID CRD42024517592.