IS INJURY OCCURRENCE ASSOCIATED WITH JOINT COUPLING VARIABILITY DURING UNANTICIPATED MOVEMENT TASKS PERFORMED BY NETBALLERS?

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This study determined whether lower extremity joint coupling variability (JCV) measures during unanticipated change of direction movements were associated with prospective lower limb injury occurrence in netballers. Twelve elite injury-free female netballers performed five trials of unanticipated sprinting tasks (straight sprints and sprints with a 180° turn on their dominant and non-dominant legs) in the motion analysis laboratory from a 10 m approach. Lower extremity JCV measures were calculated for all movement tasks from 3D data. All netballers were monitored prospectively for a period of six months for the occurrence of lower limb injury. Five (42%) netballers sustained an injury with all injuries on their dominant leg. Low joint coupling variability was associated with injury occurrence in elite female netballers (r = 0.66).