A neck faster or faster because of neck: exploring the relationship between cervical spine movement control and position sense with sprinting performance

The neck is an important component of the musculoskeletal core,influencing upper and lower limb function via its biomechanical andneural connections. However, its relationship to high-intensity activ-ities, such as sprint running, has seldom been investigated. This studyaimed to explore the relationship between neck kinaesthetic aware-ness and sprinting performance. Twenty-one trained sprinters parti-cipated in assessments including the head and neck position errortest (JPE), position tracking movement control test at three difficultylevels (the Butterfly test), 30-m maximal acceleration test and flying30-m maximal sprinting velocity test. JPE was assessed using abso-lute error, while the Butterfly test was evaluated using time spent-on-target overshooting and undershooting. Mixed linear modelsrevealed significant relationships (i) for the undershoot parameterat the difficult level of the Butterfly test and sprinting accelerationperformance (R2 marginal = 0.146–0.283) and (ii) for the absoluteerror from left rotation and maximal sprinting velocity test (R2 mar-ginal = 0.122–0.274). These findings emphasise the role of neck neu-romuscular function in sprint running, suggesting that motor controland postural awareness mechanisms influence high-intensity run-ning. In addition, these findings support the implementation ofneck kinaesthetic training to sprint training regimes in well-trainedsprinters.