TY - JOUR T1 - ACL injury incidence in female handball 10 years after the Norwegian ACL prevention study: important lessons learned JF - British Journal of Sports Medicine JO - Br J Sports Med SP - 476 LP - 479 DO - 10.1136/bjsports-2012-091862 VL - 47 IS - 8 AU - Grethe Myklebust AU - Arnhild Skjølberg AU - Roald Bahr Y1 - 2013/05/01 UR - http://bjsm.bmj.com/content/47/8/476.abstract N2 - Success in injury prevention in the short run is possible. Several studies have documented that injuries can be prevented if programme compliance is sufficient.1–6 However, the efficacy of an intervention is in a controlled trial does not mean that it will be widely adopted and sustained and have an impact on public health.7–9 Finch9 outlined the Translating Research into Injury Prevention Practice framework, emphasising that only research that can and will be adopted by the participants, the coaches and sporting bodies will succeed in the long run.Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries is an example where there are controlled studies showing promising efficacy (that the intervention is capable of producing the desired effect);5 ,10–13 however, their efficiency (whether the desired effect occurs under real-life conditions) is not known. We wanted to know ‘Have ACL injury prevention initiatives taken in Norway during the last decade been successful in the long run?’ We report our experience with Norwegian handball as an example, as this is an area where several initiatives (table 1) building on prevention trials have coincided with an ongoing surveillance programme.View this table:In this windowIn a new windowTable 1 Prevention initiatives from 1998 through 2011 ACL Injury Prevention Study The 1998–1999 season served as the baseline for the ACL Injury Prevention Study; during the 1999–2000 season, an injury prevention programme was introduced in the top three divisions in female handball in Norway.10 The intervention consisted of a neuromuscular training programme with exercises on a wobble board, a balance mat and handball-specific exercises. In the first season (1999–2000), the intervention was based on coaches delivering the programme after being instructed by the investigators. However, as compliance was low, physical therapists were engaged to take charge of delivery of the programme during the second intervention season (2000–2001). Compared with a baseline rate of 0.48 ACL injuries per team, … ER -