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Table 1 Description of selected baseline tests and the investigated variables

From: Performance in dynamic movement tasks and occurrence of low back pain in youth floorball and basketball players

SINGLE-LEG VERTICAL DROP JUMP (SLVDJ)

Preparation Small pieces of sports tape were placed on the left and right side of the upper anterior iliac tubercle (ASIS) and tuberositas tibiae.

Equipment A high-definition digital camera (Sony® Digital HD Video Camera Recorder HXR-NX70E, Sony Corporation, Tokyo, JAPAN).

Warm up No separate warm-up was performed, as the SLVDJ immediately followed a previous test (not included in this study). One practice trial on each leg was allowed.

Test performance During the test the player stood in front of the video camera, on a 10-cm box. Using one leg, the player dropped off the box and landed on one leg. Immediately after landing, the player performed a maximal jump straight up with the same leg. (The test was performed three times.) An overhead goal was used for maximum effort [30] and the test started with the right leg. Trials with jumping, a leg touching the ground or falling/clear loss of balance, were considered invalid. Two valid trials was considered acceptable.

Measurements/Calculations The frontal plane knee and pelvic angles were estimated by a physiotherapist by marking the knee joint centre and ASIS in the still image captured from a video. Joint angles were estimated at the point of maximum knee flexion during initial landing. Femur-pelvic angle (FPA) described the angle between the femur and pelvis and was calculated from the intersection of a line created by ASIS and the knee joint centre. A smaller angle indicates increased femur adduction and/or pelvic drop.

VERTICAL DROP JUMP (VDJ):

Preparation A static calibration trial was performed.

Equipment The 3D motion analysis consisted of eight cameras (Vicon T40, Oxford, UK), 16 lower body markers (Plug-In Gait, Vicon, Oxford, UK) and two force plates (AMTI, Watertown, Massachusetts) where data were recorded synchronously at 300 fps and 1500 Hz. A 30-cm box was used.

Warm up Players performed a standardised warm-up (5 min of cycling) before testing. One practice trial was allowed.

Test performance The player stood on the 30-cm box, dropped off the box and landed symmetrically on both feet on the force plates. Immediately after landing the player jumped as high as possible. An overhead goal was used for maximum effort [30] and the player tried to touch the goal with their head. Three valid trials were collected. The trials were accepted if the entire foot landed on the force plate and the markers stayed tightly on the athlete’s skin throughout the task.

Measurements/Calculations Vicon Nexus Plug-in Gait model was used for the analyses. Peak vGRF and vGRF asymmetry were investigated as potential risk factors. Three trials from both legs were averaged and the side with the larger value was chosen for analyses as peak vGRF. Peak vGRF was normalized by bodyweight. The vGRF asymmetry was calculated as the difference between the right and left legs. GRF was filtered using a fourth-order Butterworth filter with cutoff frequencies of 15 Hz and the landing phase was defined as the period when the unfiltered ground reaction force exceeded 20 N.