Interlimb kinetic asymmetries during the tuck jump assessment are more exposed following kinetic stabilization

Lucy S Kember; Gregory D Myer; Rhodri S Lloyd

doi:10.1016/j.ptsp.2024.03.002

Interlimb kinetic asymmetries during the tuck jump assessment are more exposed following kinetic stabilization

Phys Ther Sport. 2024 Mar 18:67:61-67. doi: 10.1016/j.ptsp.2024.03.002. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Lucy S Kember¹, Gregory D Myer², Rhodri S Lloyd³

Affiliations

¹ School of Sport and Health Sciences, Cardiff Metropolitan University, Cardiff, UK. Electronic address: lkember@cardiffmet.ac.uk.
² Emory Sport Performance and Research Center, Flowery Branch, GA, USA; Emory Sports Medicine Center, Atlanta, GA, USA; Department of Orthopaedics, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA; The Micheli Center for Sports Injury Prevention, Waltham, MA, USA. Electronic address: https://twitter.com/gregmyer11.
³ School of Sport and Health Sciences, Cardiff Metropolitan University, Cardiff, UK; Sport Performance Research Institute, New Zealand, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand; Centre for Sport Science and Human Performance, Waikato Institute of Technology, Hamilton, New Zealand. Electronic address: https://twitter.com/DrRSLloyd.

PMID: 38593626
DOI: 10.1016/j.ptsp.2024.03.002

Abstract

Objective: To analyse interlimb kinetics and asymmetries during the tuck jump assessment (TJA), before and after kinetic stabilization, to identify injury risk in healthy female athletes.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Setting: Laboratory.

Participants: Twenty-five healthy females (age 21.0 ± 1.83 yrs; height 1.68 ± 0.06 m; body mass 69.4 ± 10.7 kg).

Main outcome measures: Kinetics were measured during 10-s trials of the TJA and absolute asymmetries compared, before and after kinetic stabilization using paired sample t-tests. Statistical parametric mapping (SPM) compared vertical ground reaction force (VGRF) data for each limb during the jumping cycles before and after stabilization.

Results: Small to moderate increases in interlimb asymmetries were observed after stabilization for VGRF, relative vertical leg stiffness, average loading rate, total and propulsive impulse, peak braking and propulsive force (p < 0.05). SPM revealed significant interlimb differences between 77-98% and 83-99% of ground contact for the jumping cycles pre- and post-stabilization respectively.

Conclusions: Larger asymmetries were evident after kinetic stabilization, with increased VGRF in the non-dominant limb. We speculate that participants sacrificed interlimb landing symmetry to achieve kinetic stability, which may reflect a primal landing strategy that forgoes movement quality. Assessing lower limb biomechanics using the TJA should involve examining kinetic stability and interlimb kinetic asymmetries.

Keywords: ACL; Asymmetry; Repeated jumping; Statistical parametric mapping.