Comparing ACL Injury Risk for a Drop Vertical Jump, Reach-Only Jump Spike, and Full Jump Spike

In research and clinical settings, standardized jump landing tasks are often used as methods for screening for primary or secondary injury risk. Researchers and clinicians are able to use resulting data, like loading and lower limb kinematics, to determine injury or re-injury risk. However, the idea of categorizing these controlled jump-landing tasks as “sport-specific” have been challenged in literature. With volleyball being one of the top five sports played in the world, evaluating injury risk is important to prevent the long-term effects caused by severe lower-limb injuries, like anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tears. Studies exploring differences in volleyball-specific tasks and standardized jump landing tasks found differences in take-off mechanics, suggesting that volleyball-specific tasks should be implemented to have a better understanding of movement properties related to a volleyball jump spike. However, these studies only evaluated the take-off phase of a jump spike, which cannot directly inform us on the high injury risk landing phase of the movement. Further, it is unlikely for a participant to be performing a jump spike in a clinical setting to evaluate injury risk due to need for an extensive set up and large space. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to evaluate differences in ACL injury risk metrics between a DVJ, a reach-only jump spike, and a full jump spike. The results will help inform movement screens used for injury risk prevention. We aim to recruit 11 male and 11 female healthy volleyball athletes between the ages of 14 and 25 years old.

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