Single-Leg Squat as a Tool to Evaluate Young Athletes' Frontal Plane Knee Control

Abstract

This file was downloaded from the institutional repository Brage NIH -brage.bibsys.no/nih Räisänen, A., Pasanen, K., Krosshaug, T., Avela, J., Perttunen, J., Parkkari, J. (2015). Tampere University Hospital for financial support of the study. Design: Frontal plane knee control was assessed by a physiotherapist on a three-point scale. Conflicts of interest and sources of fundingFrontal plane projection angles were calculated from video images. To determine the intrarater reliability, a physiotherapist re-assessed 60 subjects' performances from a video. For the inter-rater reliability, 20 subjects were assessed by both the physiotherapist and a nonexperienced tester. The study continued for three test years. Setting: Research institute.Participants: 378 floorball, basketball, ice hockey and volleyball players. Assessment of variables:Knee control was assessed to be good, reduced or poor. Main outcome measures:Agreement between the video analysis and subjectively assessed frontal plane knee control. Intra-and inter-rater reliability.Results: There were statistically significant differences in the mean frontal plane knee angles between subjects rated as having 'good', 'reduced' or 'poor' knee control. Intra-rater reliability was fair for the assessments in the first year, moderate (dominant leg) and good (non-dominant leg) for the second year, and very good (dominant leg) and good (non-dominant leg) for the third year. Inter-rater reliability was fair/poor. Conclusions:This study suggests that by using the subjective assessment of the single-leg squat task, it is possible to detect differences in frontal plane knee control in young team sport athletes. The assessment can be considered to be reliable for clinical use when performed by an experienced tester.

Investigation of knee control as a lower extremity injury risk factor: A prospective study in youth football

“…The SLS test is used in clinical practice to assess frontal plane knee control. The visual assessment of frontal plane knee control correlates well with the FPKPA, when assessment if performed by experienced observer . Previous studies on young athletes have shown that reduced frontal plane knee control is associated with higher risk of future injuries, although all the studies are not in agreement .…”

“…The SLS test protocol and the 2D video analysis method is based on the work of Stensrud et al and has been described in detail previously . An alteration to the previous protocol was made by cutting out the warm‐up.…”

“…The visual assessment of frontal plane knee control correlates well with the FPKPA, when assessment if performed by experienced observer. 30 Previous studies on young athletes have shown that reduced frontal plane knee control is associated with higher risk of future injuries, 29,39,44,45 although all the studies are not in agreement. 46 As reduced knee control has been identified as an injury risk factor, using movement control tests to identify athletes who could reduce their injury risk by improving knee control seems sensible.…”

“…The SLS test protocol and the 2D video analysis method is based on the work of Stensrud et al 20 and has been described in detail previously. 30 An alteration to the previous protocol was made by cutting out the warm-up. The warm-up was not considered necessary as in the present study, the SLS test was not followed by the vertical drop jump test, as had been the case in previous studies.…”

Altered hip control during a standing knee‐lift test is associated with increased risk of knee injuries

“…To evaluate individual's risk of sustaining non‐contact LE injuries, different tests to screen athletes’ movement control have been developed. Both two‐ and three‐dimensional motion analysis methods have been utilized to assess tasks such as vertical drop jump, single‐leg drop jump, and single‐leg squat . Already, several biomechanical variables have been studied and linked to injury risk.…”