The increased plasticity of a kid’s central nervous system is not only useful for motor learning, but also has benefits related to injury prevention A theory called OPTIMAL PREP has 3 pillars that could potentially use neuroplasticity to increase performance & reduce injury OPTIMAL: Optimizing Performance Through Intrinsic Motivation and Attention for Learning PREP: Prevention Rehabilitation Exercise Play (Diefkuss et al., 2021) Pillar 1: Enhanced Expectancies Confidence improves motor performance & learning The “self-fulfilling prophecy” of the Pygmalion effect remains valuable When confidence & expectancies for success are not instilled in youth, they may start worrying about “self” & ⬇️ performance Confidence is important for an athlete to move in a coordinated fashion to reduce injury or during rehab from injury An injury can essentially put a neurological “brake” on athlete returning to play locking up degrees of freedom & could delay progression or cause another injury Manipulating perceived difficulty of a task may also prove beneficial to learners confidence However, if an injured athlete is not physically ready it may not be beneficial to make them think they are ready to play through perceived confidence Pillar 2: Autonomy Support Autonomy is giving an athlete the ability to actively participate in their own behavior & can be useful for motivation to train or rehab Allowing an athlete to have some control over practice conditions (choose an exercise or # of reps) is beneficial Pillar 3: External Focus of Attention An external focus of attention means focusing on the intended movement effect compared to an internal focus that focuses on body movement An external focus of attention has been shown to improve performance over an internal focus Interaction of Pillars The combination of multiple pillars should be the most beneficial when attempting to improve motor learning Makaruk et al. (2020) provided autonomy support and cued for an external focus during penalty kicks showing an increase performance over control Neuroplasticity Involvement These pillars are proposed to release dopamine to strengthen functional connectivity in the brain An ACL injury not only structurally disrupts the knee, but also pathways in the brain i.e. ⬇️ spinal reflex excitability ⬇️ corticomotor excitability These pathways can be improved through the use of the pillars in OPTIMAL PREP as well as using positive reinforcement to involve the effort-reward pathways in the brain to improve performance i.e. rate of force development, joint loading, corticospinal excitability This works hand in hand with providing autonomy Autonomy gives the athlete a choice which improves striatum related pathways that boost motivation & release dopamine to improve motor performance
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