Female adolescent basketball players performance on Y-balance Test, a motor control test battery and hip abductor strength before and after a seven weeks preventive biomechanics program : An uncontrolled pilot intervention study

• Main Author: Skogh, Camilla
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: Luleå tekniska universitet, Institutionen för hälsa, lärande och teknik 2021
• Subjects: Adolescent; basketball; biomechanics; hip strength; motor control; prevention; Y-balance test; Physiotherapy; Sjukgymnastik
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:ltu:diva-88290

Background: Basketball is one of the most popular physical activities in the world and lower limb joints are constantly exposed to physical stress. Girls have been shown to perform athletic movement with an adverse biomechanical profile with high risk for injury. We need more knowledge about how we can introduce motion control training in their regular training program in a simple and uncomplicated way. This study aims to examine the effect and experience of a preventive biomechanics program for female adolescent basketball players. Method: Twelve female basketball players, 12-13 years old, participated in this uncontrolled pilot intervention study. The seven weeks intervention included a 12 minutes preventive biomechanics program twice a week and a daily 2 minutes homes exercise. Performance on the Y-Balance test (YBT), a motor control test battery (MCTB) and hip abductor strength (HAS) was assessed before and after the intervention. Their experience was evaluated using a questionnaire after the intervention. Result: The participants improved significantly in all three outcome measures, YBT, MCTB and HAS after completed intervention. All participants indicated in the questionnaire that they were positive about the intervention and that they would choose to participate again. Conclusion: A seven week preventive biomechanics program twice a week showed positive effects on both motor control exercises and subjective experience among female adolescent basketball players. These results indicate that the training intervention was well accepted and had positive effects on balance, trunk motor control and hip muscle strength. This may in turn have positive effect on injury prevention. However, that needs to be investigated in future RCT with longer follow up time.