Relationship between vertical stiffness and soft-tissue injuries in professional Australian football
- Publication Type:
- Journal Article
- Citation:
- Journal of Sports Sciences, 2019, 37 (21), pp. 2425 - 2432
- Issue Date:
- 2019-11-02
Closed Access
| Filename | Description | Size | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sporri et al 2019 Vertical stiffness and soft tissue injuries in professional Australian football.pdf | Published Version | 1.15 MB |
Copyright Clearance Process
- Recently Added
- In Progress
- Closed Access
This item is closed access and not available.
© 2019, © 2019 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. Soft-tissue injuries are common in Australian football. Recently, literature has identified non-modifiable and modifiable risk factors, including vertical stiffness (Kvert). However, limitations regarding measurement frequency and duration exist; thus, further information is required about the role of Kvert as a modifiable risk factor for injury. This study examined the seasonal variation in Kvert and its relationship to soft-tissue injuries in professional Australian football. The mean Kvert and bilateral asymmetry were assessed and compared between injured and non-injured players. For the seasonal analysis, 56 players were tested across two seasons with no variation in bilateral asymmetry evident (p= 0.33). While there were generally no changes in Kvert, the value from the end of the second pre-season revealed 5% lower values than the mean of two seasons (p= 0.02). Considering the injury analysis, 21 lower-body soft-tissue injuries were recorded from 18 participants. No differences were recorded for mean Kvert between the injured and non-injured groups (p= 0.16–0.76). When assessing Kvert asymmetry, the injured group displayed a 4.5% higher value than the non-injured group at the end of the pre-season test (p= 0.03) but not at other time-points (p= 0.16–0.99). Higher Kvert bilateral asymmetry measures after the pre-season appear to be related to lower-body soft-tissue injury in professional Australian footballers. Medical and conditioning staff should consider this measure when trying to mitigate the onset of injury or identify at-risk players.
Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: