Interday Reliability of a Testing Battery to Assess Lateral Symmetry and Performance in Well-Trained Volleyball Players

J Strength Cond Res. 2022 Apr 1;36(4):895-901. doi: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000003630.

Abstract

Iglesias-Caamaño, M, Álvarez-Yates, T, Carballo-López, J, Cuba-Dorado, A, and García-García, O. Interday reliability of a testing battery to assess lateral symmetry and performance in well-trained volleyball players. J Strength Cond Res 36(4): 895-901, 2022-This study aimed to determine the relative and absolute interday reliability of a testing battery for lateral asymmetry detection and performance in well-trained volleyball players and to determine whether retaining for analysis the best or the average value of 3 attempts would modulate the interday reliability and the magnitude of asymmetry. Thirteen Superleague-2 male volleyball players performed on 3 different days a 5-test battery composed of 4 tests for assessing muscle asymmetries: active knee extension, Y-balance test (YBT), modified 20-yard shuttle run (M-20Y), and single-leg countermovement jump; and one for volleyball sports performance: attack jump (AJ). The intraclass correlation index and coefficient of variation (CV) together with the standard error of measurement (SEM, %SEM) and the minimum detectable change (MDC, %MDC) were taken to calculate relative and absolute reliability. Two-way repeated-measures analysis of variance was used to establish the differences between the best value and the average value in each session. The low %MDC (<10%) suggests that all the tests that make up the testing battery would have good sensitivity to detect possible asymmetries. All tests have shown an excellent interday absolute reliability (CV <4.5%; %SEM < 5%), both when retaining the best value and the average value of the 3 attempts. In addition, AJ and YBT (on both legs) obtained a good-excellent relative reliability, whereas the M-20Y test seems to show a lower relative reliability. Retaining the best value or the average value to determine the magnitude and direction of asymmetry seems to be equally reliable with no differences between both values.

MeSH terms

  • Humans
  • Knee Joint
  • Leg / physiology
  • Male
  • Muscle Strength / physiology
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Volleyball*