Reliability of a basketball specific testing protocol for footwear fit and comfort perception

Abstract

This study introduces a method for evaluating fit and comfort perception of basketball footwear by using a basketball specific course (BSC) and to examine respective inter-day reliability. Methods: The BSC incorporated a sequence of acceleration, deceleration, lateral shuffling, lay-up, backward running, jumping, and landing movements. Nineteen university basketball players provided their perception scores of four fit and seven comfort items after going through the BSC. Six footwear conditions were counterbalanced. Perception scores were analysed by repeated measures ANOVAs (comfort) or Friedman tests (fit) as VAS and Likert scales were applied. Significance level was set at p < 0.05. For reliability analysis, a retest (day 2) was performed 2 weeks after using the identical protocol of the first test day (day 1). Two-way repeated measures ANOVAs and intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) of shoe ratings were used to determine inter-day effect and inter-day reliability. Results: Shoe effects on comfort were found for heel cushioning, forefoot cushioning, collar, medial–lateral control, and overall comfort in either one or both test days. Shoe effects on fit (heel region) were only identified on day 2. No inter-day effect was found for all fit and comfort perception measurements. All comfort items showed substantial inter-day reliability (ICC, 0.61 to 0.8). Only one fit item (shoe length) showed almost perfect reliability (ICC > 0.80) while the others showed moderate reliability (ICC, 0.41 to 0.6). Conclusion: Differences in basketball footwear fit and comfort perception were identified when performing the BSC testing protocol. The current protocol demonstrated substantial reliability for evaluating comfort perception but only moderate reliability for evaluating fit perception in most cases, indicating that distinct testing protocols for comfort and fit perception need to be considered for respective testing.