The Dose-Response Relationship of Exercise-Based Injury Prevention Programmes: Implications for Research and Practice

Exercise-based injury prevention programmes (EIPPs) need a certain period of consistent practice to achieve the expected efficacy. Therefore, as with many other biomedical interventions, EIPPs can be characterised by a dose-response relationship. In this Current Opinion, we aim to present the concept of the dose-response relationship and explore the research and clinical implications stemming from it. First, we introduce its origins from pharmacology and define the terms dose and response in the context of EIPPs. Specifically, we describe how the dose is dependent on the duration of EIPP practice and how the response can be quantified from injury-related epidemiological outcomes. Then, we highlight that the vast majority of research studies examining the efficacy of EIPPs neglect their dose-response relationship, which can lead to a potential underestimation of the EIPP effect. To overcome this problem, we present two statistical approaches that were applied to a previous study, providing a practical way to estimate the dose-response relationship of an EIPP. Finally, we discuss how researchers can integrate this concept in their study designs and analyses and how practitioners can plan the implementation of EIPPs on the basis of the time needed for the EIPPs to gain efficacy according to the dose-response relationship.