| Abstract ID |
| 20260055 |
| Category |
| Sports Medicine: Epidemiology and Injury Prevention |
| Preferable Presentation |
| Oral Presentation |
| Title |
| PRESEASON FUNCTIONAL PERFORMANCE TESTS DID NOT DIFFER BETWEEN TRAUMATIC LOWER EXTREMITY INJURED AND NON-INJURED UNIVERSITY VOLLEYBALL ATHLETES |
| Author |
|
| Presenter |
| lingqing xiao |
| Abstract |
| Background Millions of individuals worldwide, ranging from recreational to elite levels, engage in volleyball and these participants are prone to sustaining non-contact overuse and traumatic injuries. Preseason assessment of movement competency and functional capacity offers a potential method for evaluating injury risk and training readiness. However, previous research findings have been inconsistent as many studies consisting of diverse populations. While some research suggests that standing long jump and single-leg hop may be used to screen female collegiate volleyball athletes at risk for a sports-related low back or lower extremities injury, other studies report no significant association with individual tests. In our study, we implemented inexpensive and quick to administer functional tests, including the Leap and Return test, designed to evaluate joint alignment and dynamic stability. Objectives This study aimed to describe the injury distribution patterns over two consecutive seasons and evaluate whether a battery of preseason functional performance tests could be used as a preseason-screening tool to identify volleyball athletes at risk for sports-related lower extremity injury via comparison of injured and uninjured athletes. study design A cohort of university volleyball athletes underwent a preseason musculoskeletal screening protocol over the 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 seasons. The screening included standing long Jump, Single Leg Hop, Landing Error Scoring System, Leap and return, Overhead Squat and Single Leg Squat. Systematic injury surveillance documented onsets, mechanisms, types, regions. Given the screening’s focus on lower-limb function, the present study was particularly concerned with traumatic lower extremity injury. Shapiro-Wilk test was used to confirm normal distributions of the data. Independent t test or Mann-Whitney U test compared screening results between traumatic lower limb injured and uninjured athletes group. Results During the study, 69 athletes were recruited(37 males and 32 females, mean height=174.11±9.87, mean weight=68.40±9.76), 25 athletes sustained injuries, with 6 males and 2 females experiencing traumatic lower extremity injuries. A total of 34 injuries were recorded, with seven occurring in the knee region, as the most common region and sprains were the most frequent diagnosis. Of these, 22 were traumatic injuries, with 19 occurring during training. No statistically significant differences were found in any preseason functional test scores between traumatic lower limb injured and uninjured athletes. Conclusions This study indicate that the battery of preseason functional performance tests, including the Leap and Return assessment, did not distinguish between traumatic lower extremity injured and non-injured athletes. The lack of significance may be attributed to several factors, including the relatively small sample size of injured athletes and the multifactorial nature of sports injuries that cannot be captured by functional tests alone. |