The relationship between Beighton score and biomechanical risk factors among adolescent, female volleyball players

• Published in: Physical therapy in sport 2024-11, Vol.70, p.84-89
• Main Authors: Sahin, Sarp, Erdman, Ashley, McGinley, James, Loewen, Alex, Ellis, Henry B., Wyatt, Chuck, Jones, Jacob C., Miller, Shane M., Wilson, Philip L., Ulman, Sophia
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Athletes; Athletic Injuries; Biomechanical Phenomena; Biomechanics; Cross-Sectional Studies; Female; Females; Health risks; Humans; Hypermobility; Injury; Joint and ligament injuries; Jumping; Kinematics; Knee; Knee Joint - physiology; Knee valgus; Neuromuscular diseases; Pediatrics; Range of motion; Risk Factors; Sports injuries; Teenagers; Volleyball; Volleyball - physiology
• ISSN: 1466-853X; 1873-1600; 1873-1600
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ptsp.2024.10.003

To investigate the relationship between Beighton score and biomechanical risk factors, such as knee valgus, in female, adolescent volleyball players. Cross-sectional study. Biomechanics laboratory. 25 adolescent, club-level female volleyball athletes (14.5 ± 1.8 years) were tested between September 2021–November 2021. Participants were asked to perform a double-leg vertical jump (DLVJ), a single-leg squat (SLS), and a single-leg drop landing (SLDL). Peak coronal plane angles during the DLVJ, SLS, and SLDL were computed. Spearman correlations were performed to identify significant relationships between Beighton score and biomechanical variables. Peak knee valgus was found to be moderately correlated to Beighton score during the DLVJ-Land (r = 0.487, p = 0.014), SLDL (r = 0.478, p = 0.016), and SLS (r = 0.439, p = 0.028) tasks. Overall, adolescent volleyball players with higher Beighton scores tended to exhibit a greater peak knee valgus, suggesting that such athletes could benefit from a targeted neuromuscular training or injury prevention program. •Adolescent volleyball players performed jumping, squatting, and landing tasks.•Higher Beighton scores were correlated with increased knee valgus during all tasks.•Beighton scores were unrelated to sport participation measures.•Neuromuscular training could benefit adolescent female athletes with hypermobility.