Bite Technologies (United States)

Objective functional performance assessment has recently been added to the 4th edition of the recommended pre-participation examination (PPE) sports physical examination. Clinical postural control assessments conducted in the pre-season have been associated with identifying individuals at risk for lower extremity injury. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate gender and injury occurrence differences in a clinical postural control assessment on ankle injury occurrence in collegiate soccer athletes. METHODS: Postural control assessments were completed on 51 injured vs. 51 non-injured matched-control subjects based on school, gender, height, weight, and history of ankle injury. A total sample of 342 (19.4±1.2yrs, 172.7±12.97cm, 69.3±10.01kg) collegiate U.S. soccer players were tested during the pre-season. Subjects performed three trials of the Star Excursion Balance Test (SEBT) for the anterior (ANT), posterolateral (PL), and posteromedial (PM) directions. Dependent variables consisted of reach distance normalized to % leg length for the mean of each direction and a composite score for all three directions. Separate univariate ANOVA's were conducted for gender and each reach direction normalized score with an alpha level set at.05. RESULTS: There were no significant differences noted between matched-control subjects on each of the SEBT reach directions and composite score (p values ranged.315 to.464). Overall, females had significantly higher anterior reach (p=.018) and composite scores (p=.039) as compared to males. CONCLUSION: Clinical postural control assessment utilizing components of the SEBT were not statistically different in a group of injured vs. matched-control collegiate soccer players for ankle injury. Future research evaluating the SEBT battery as a predictor of ankle injury in physically active populations warrants further study. National Institutes of Health RO3: PA 04-002 NIAMS Small Grant Program for New Investigators: 1R03AR054031-01