The Association Between Previous Injury And Two Lower Extremity Functional Tests

Abstract

Previous injury to the lower extremity may increase an athlete’s risk for future injury. Functional screening is one way to determine if an athlete is at a higher risk of future injury. By assessing athletes’ performance on these tests, there is potential for medical providers to implement intervention strategies to decrease risk of future injury. PURPOSE: To determine the association between previous history of injury and two lesser known lower extremity functional tests, the single-leg hip bridge (SLHB) and the single-leg wall-sit (SLWS). METHODS: Sixty-eight recreationally active (participation in exercise or sports for at least 3 days per week for 30 minutes) individuals completed this cross-sectional study. Each participant completed continuous repetitions of a SLHB until failure and repeated on the contralateral leg, as well as a SLWS test, bilaterally, where they were required to hold a single-leg wall sit position until failure. Simple linear regression models were conducted to assess the association between previous injury and the SLHB score and SLWS time. A Poisson regression model was used to assess the association with previous injury for the right and left leg scores on the SLHB. RESULTS: Seventy participants were screened for this study. Of the 70, 2 were excluded, leaving 68 total participants (21 men, 22.4 ± 5.7 years old, 181.96 ± 6.78 cm, and 78.66 ± 10.60 kg and 47 women, 23.3 ± 1.7 years old, 166.30 ± 9.06 cm, and 66.22 ± 9.99 kg). Twenty-five (37%) participants self-reported a previous injury. There was a statistically significant association between a previous injury and the SLHB for the right leg (Relative Risk (RR) = 0.93; 95% Confidence Interval (CI): 0.76-0.93), but not statistically significant association between previous injury and SLHB for the left leg (RR = 0.98; 95% CI: 0.86-1.05). There was no statistically significant association between the SLWS time on either the right (mean difference = 5.57 seconds; 95% CI: -14.17-3.04) or left (mean difference = 5.68 seconds; 95% CI: -13.37-2.02) with previous injury. CONCLUSION: These findings indicate that previous injury to the lower extremity may not affect SLWS time. The SLHB count could be affected depending on the side the injury was on, but additional research is warranted.