Development and Evaluation of a Simple, Multifactorial Model Based on Landing Performance to Indicate Injury Risk in Surfing Athletes

• Published in: International journal of sports physiology and performance 2015-11, Vol.10 (8), p.1029-1035
• Main Authors: Lundgren, Lina E, Tran, Tai T, Nimphius, Sophia, Raymond, Ellen, Secomb, Josh L, Farley, Oliver R L, Newton, Robert U, Steele, Julie R, Sheppard, Jeremy M
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Ankle - physiology; Athletic Injuries - etiology; Biomechanical Phenomena; Competitive Behavior - physiology; Female; Humans; Injuries; Leg - physiology; Male; Models, Statistical; Muscle Strength; Probability; Range of Motion, Articular; Reference Values; Risk Factors; Sports - physiology; Surfing; Task Performance and Analysis; Young Adult
• ISSN: 1555-0265; 1555-0273
• DOI: 10.1123/ijspp.2014-0591

To develop and evaluate a multifactorial model based on landing performance to estimate injury risk for surfing athletes. Five measures were collected from 78 competitive surfing athletes and used to create a model to serve as a screening tool for landing tasks and potential injury risk. In the second part of the study, the model was evaluated using junior surfing athletes (n = 32) with a longitudinal follow-up of their injuries over 26 wk. Two models were compared based on the collected data, and magnitude-based inferences were applied to determine the likelihood of differences between injured and noninjured groups. The study resulted in a model based on 5 measures--ankle-dorsiflexion range of motion, isometric midthigh-pull lower-body strength, time to stabilization during a drop-and-stick (DS) landing, relative peak force during a DS landing, and frontal-plane DS-landing video analysis--for male and female professional surfers and male and female junior surfers. Evaluation of the model showed that a scaled probability score was more likely to detect injuries in junior surfing athletes and reported a correlation of r = .66, P = .001, with a model of equal variable importance. The injured (n = 7) surfers had a lower probability score (0.18 ± 0.16) than the noninjured group (n = 25, 0.36 ± 0.15), with 98% likelihood, Cohen d = 1.04. The proposed model seems sensitive and easy to implement and interpret. Further research is recommended to show full validity for potential adaptations for other sports.