Abstract

The between-trial repeatability of movement patterns when assessing potentially at-risk motion characteristics during jump-landing tasks is critical to identifying biomechanical risk factors for anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to analyze kinematic variables' inter-trial reliability within one session of performing a jump-landing task from a box. The study aimed to evaluate inter-trial reliability on four kinematic variables at initial ground contact (IGC); hip flexion, knee flexion, knee valgus, and ankle flexion (all measured in angular degrees) and across gender. METHODS: Twenty-five males (24±2.3yrs, 178.6±7.2cm, and 84.1±13.1kg) and twenty-five females (23±2.5yrs, 167.2±7.4cm, and 62.8±8.5kg) were selected from a sample of convenience from a university student population. 3-D electromagnetic motion analysis sensors sampling at 100Hz and two Bertec force plates sampling at 1000 Hz, used to assess initial ground contact, were utilized for data collection. Five trials were conducted and each trial was considered as a separate data point and evaluated using an intraclass correlation coefficient model (ICC 2,k) to analyze the reliability of each variable at IGC. RESULTS: All variables were significant at p<0.05. Fair to excellent reliability (ICC=0.79 to 0.92) was demonstrated for each variable across the total sample. Males tended to be very slightly more reliable across trials as compared to their female counterparts; Hip Flexion at IGC (Males=0.89 vs. Females=0.83), Knee Flexion at IGC (Males=0.81 vs. Females 0.77), Knee Valgus at IGC (Males=0.93 vs. Females=0.92), and Ankle Flexion at IGC (Males=0.85 vs. Females=0.78). CONCLUSION: Repeatability of lower extremity kinematic data across five trials during a single-session jump landing task showed fair to excellent reliability within and between gender. Evaluation of kinematic movement characteristics during a controlled box-drop jump-landing task revealed reliable individual movement patterns between trials allowing researchers to better utilize a single-session analysis for identification of potential ACL injury risk factors. Future studies should focus on evaluating the inter-trial variability of kinematic data across multiple sessions and various jump-landing movement tasks.

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