The effectiveness of an online intervention in stimulating injury-preventive behaviour in adult novice runners: Results of a randomised controlled trial

BACKGROUND: The online intervention Runfitcheck was developed to stimulate injury-preventive behaviour among adult novice runners. OBJECTIVES: This study evaluated the effectiveness of Runfitcheck on injury-preventive behaviour among adult novice runners. METHODS: A randomised controlled trial was conducted among adult novice runners. The intervention group had access to the Runfitcheck intervention, the control group performed their running activities as usual. One, three, and five months after enrolment, participants reported retrospectively what they had done regarding injury-preventive behaviour (operationalised as (i) using a (personalised) training schedule; (ii) performing strength and technique exercises; and (iii) performing a warm-up routine prior to running). Relative Risks (RR) and 95% Confidence Interval (95%CI) were used to analyse behavioural change. RESULTS: The intervention group (n=715) searched more often for information about a warm-up routine (RR 1.211; 95%CI 1.080–1.357), and added more often strength exercises to their warm-up routine (RR 1.228; 95%CI 1.092–1.380). The intervention group performed more often running technique exercises compared to the control group (n=696) (RR 1.134; 95%CI 1.015–1.267), but less often strength exercises (RR 0.865 (95%CI 0.752–0.995). Within the group of runners that did not perform any warm-up routine at enrolment (n=272), the intervention group started to perform a regular warm-up routine more often than the control group (RR 1.461; 95%CI 1.084–1.968). No significant results were found for using a training schedule. CONCLUSION: The online intervention Runfitcheck was effective in stimulating aspects of injury-preventive behaviour in adult novice runners, mostly related to a warm-up routine. TRIAL REGISTRATION: NL6225, Registered April 24(th) 2007 - Retrospectively registered, https://www.trialregister.nl/trial/6225