Blog Archives

Screening Basketball Players to Reduce Injury Risk

7/31/2016

PREVENTING injuries is hard. Impossible, really.

Reducing risk of injury on the other hand...

Injury prevention (read: 'injury risk reduction') is one of my favorite topics to discuss. I remember back in the good 'ol days when I first discovered the Functional Movement Screen and thought injury prevention was simply not scoring below a 14.

I've since realized it's not quite that simple...

Despite having A LOT more to learn and fully understand, my thoughts and approach to injury risk reduction has evolved since my early FMS days (I still use the FMS, but simply to determine if an athlete's joints can get into a position to train/compete/adapt to stress). It's human nature to want to intervene and make a [positive] difference, I just try to go about it in a different way now. (hint: I'm bias for doing something)

After listening to a recent podcast and reading a recent paper and blog post, I thought it would be a good idea to synthesize and share my thoughts (in combination with the thoughts and works of others much smarter than I!) when it comes to screening for risk of non-contact injuries. Let's get to it by first examining the screening process, then using a specific example of screening basketball athletes.

Single Leg Hop Testing In The Frontal Plane

7/8/2016

Hop testing is commonly used to assess an individual's unilateral lower extremity power. Hop testing is considered essential in the rehab world, as it is used to identify lower extremity asymmetries prior to allowing an individual to return to sport or activity. Having less than 10-15% difference from right to left (limb symmetry index, or LSI) is commonly used as the "cut-off" point for allowing an individual to return to sport/activity.

(For video demonstrations as well as reliability and normative data, check out my friend and colleague's page for both the triple jump and single hop for distance)

Hop testing asymmetries have been theorized to predict future 1st time injury as well as predict re-injury, but from the information gathered from this presentation, the current evidence may not support that. It appears to support one leg hop testing usefulness in discriminating between normal and previously injured. As you will see if you click the clink to the presentation above, return to sport is a complex decision (outside the scope of this post). I do believe hop testing can provide value in making this decision, BUT only when used as a part of a battery of tests rather than a stand alone test AND performing the tests in more than simply the sagittal plane. Let's read on...