Citation

Read P, Oliver JL, DE Ste Croix MB, Myer GD, Lloyd RS. J. Strength Cond. Res. 2015; 30(6): 1510-1516.

Affiliation

1School of Sport, Health and Applied Science, St Mary's University, London, United Kingdom 2Youth Physical Development Unit, School of Sport, Cardiff Metropolitan University, United Kingdom 3Exercise and Sport Research Centre, School of Sport and Exercise, University of Gloucestershire, United Kingdom 4Division of Sports Medicine, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA 5Department of Pediatrics and Orthopaedic Surgery, College of Medicine, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA 6The Micheli Center for Sports Injury Prevention, Boston, MA, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2015, National Strength and Conditioning Association)

DOI

10.1519/JSC.0000000000001260

PMID

26562715

Abstract

Altered neuromuscular control has been suggested as a mechanism for injury in soccer players. Ligamentous injuries most often occur during dynamic movements, such as decelerations from jump-landing maneuvers where high risk movement patterns are present. The assessment of kinematic variables during jump-landing tasks as part of a pre-participation screen is useful in the identification of injury risk. An example of a field-based screening tool is the repeated tuck jump assessment. The purpose of this study was to analyze the within-subject variation of the tuck jump screening assessment in elite male youth soccer players. 25 pre and 25 post-peak height velocity (PHV) elite male youth soccer players from the academy of a professional English soccer club completed the assessment. A test, re-test design was used to explore the within-subject inter-session reliability. Technique was graded retrospectively against the 10-point criteria set out in the screening protocol using two-dimensional video cameras. The typical error range reported for tuck jump total score (0.90 - 1.01 in pre and post-PHV players respectively) was considered acceptable. When each criteria was analyzed individually, Kappa coefficient determined that knee valgus was the only criterion to reach substantial agreement across the two test sessions for both groups. The results of this study suggest that although tuck jump total score may be reliably assessed in elite male youth soccer players, caution should be applied in solely interpreting the composite score due to the high within-subject variation in a number of the individual criteria. Knee valgus may be reliably used to screen elite youth male soccer players for this plyometric technique error and for test, re-test comparison.

Language: en