Preseason Functional Performance Test Measures Are Associated With Injury in Female College Volleyball Players

Abstract

Context: Preseason functional performance test measures have been associated with noncontact time-loss injury in some athletic populations. However, findings have been equivocal with many studies consisting of heterogeneous populations.

Objective: To determine if preseason standing long jump and/or single-leg hop test scores are associated with a noncontact time-loss injury to the lower quadrant (LQ = low back or lower-extremities) in female Division III college volleyball (VB) players.

Design: Prospective cohort study.

Setting: National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III female VB teams.

Patients: A total of 82 female college VB players (age = 18.9 [1.0] y).

Main outcome measures: Standing long jump and single-leg hop test measures were collected at the start of the official preseason. Athletic trainers tracked all time-loss injuries and their mechanisms. Athletes were categorized as at risk if their preseason standing long jump <80% height, bilateral single-leg hop <70% height, and had a SLH side-to-side asymmetry >10%.

Results: The noncontact time-loss overall injury rate for the LQ region in at-risk athletes was 13.5 (95% confidence interval [CI], 4.3-31.5) per 1000 athletic exposures. At-risk athletes were significantly more likely to experience a noncontact time-loss injury than VB players in the referent group (rate ratio = 6.2; 95% CI, 1.9-17.2; P = .008). The relative risk of sustaining a noncontact time-loss injury to the LQ was 4 times greater in the at-risk group (relative risk = 4.6; 95% CI, 2.1-10.1; P = .01). At-risk athletes were 6 times more likely to experience a foot or ankle injury (relative risk = 6.3; 95% CI, 2.1-19.2; P = .008).

Conclusion: Suboptimal performance on a battery of functional performance tests is associated with a significantly greater risk of noncontact time-loss injury to the LQ in female Division III college VB players.

Keywords: division III; risk factors; single-leg hop; standing long jump.