Acceleration and Orientation Jumping Performance Differences Among Elite Professional Male Handball Players With or Without Previous ACL Reconstruction: An Inertial Sensor Unit-Based Study

Abstract

Background: Handball is one of the most challenging sports for the knee joint. Persistent biomechanical and jumping capacity alterations can be observed in athletes with an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury. Commonly identified jumping biomechanical alterations have been described by the use of laboratory technologies. However, portable and easy-to-handle technologies that enable an evaluation of jumping biomechanics at the training field are lacking.

Objective: To analyze unilateral/bilateral acceleration and orientation jumping performance differences among elite male handball athletes with or without previous ACL reconstruction via a single inertial sensor unit device.

Design: Case control descriptive study.

Setting: At the athletes' usual training court.

Participants: Twenty-two elite male (6 ACL-reconstructed and 16 uninjured control players) handball players were evaluated.

Methods: The participants performed a vertical jump test battery that included a 50-cm vertical bilateral drop jump, a 20-cm vertical unilateral drop jump, and vertical unilateral countermovement jump maneuvers.

Main outcome measurements: Peak 3-dimensional (X, Y, Z) acceleration (m·s(-2)), jump phase duration and 3-dimensional orientation values (°) were obtained from the inertial sensor unit device. Two-tailed t-tests and a one-way analysis of variance were performed to compare means. The P value cut-off for significance was set at P < .05.

Results: The ACL-reconstructed male athletes did not show any significant (P < .05) residual jumping biomechanical deficits regarding the measured variables compared with players who had not suffered this knee injury. A dominance effect was observed among non-ACL reconstructed controls but not among their ACL-reconstructed counterparts (P < .05).

Conclusions: Elite male handball athletes with previous ACL reconstruction demonstrated a jumping biomechanical profile similar to control players, including similar jumping performance values in both bilateral and unilateral jumping maneuvers, several years after ACL reconstruction. These findings are in agreement with previous research showing full functional restoration of abilities in top-level male athletes after ACL reconstruction, rehabilitation and subsequent return to sports at the previous level.