The development of a clinical screening tool to evaluate unilateral landing performance in a healthy population

Abstract

ObjectivesTo develop a clinical tool to evaluate unilateral landing quality in a healthy population. The reliability of the novel tool was evaluated, and the influence of gender and leg-dominance was investigated. DesignAn experimental study for developing a test protocol, scoring criteria, and scoring method, based on observable landing errors, for the novel Unilateral Landing Error Scoring System (ULESS). SettingControlled lab environment. ParticipantsHealthy participants (25♂ and 25♀) performed the ULESS. Main outcome measuresThe ULESS was scored with video analysis. Unilateral landing performance, measured with the ULESS, was compared to bilateral landing performance. ResultsSixteen items to assess trunk, pelvic, and lower limb movement patterns during a unilateral landing task resulted in a composite score on an interval scale. Moderate to excellent intra- and inter-tester reliability (ICC(2,1) = 0.77–0.90) was determined. The ULESS was able to identify moderate to poor unilateral landing quality in subjects with good to excellent bilateral landing quality. No main effect of gender (p = 0.19) or leg-dominance (p = 0.65) on ULESS scores was found. ConclusionModerate to excellent reliability can be expected when using the newly developed protocol and scoring method. The ULESS is feasible to perform with limited materials.