CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Sports Med Int Open 2018; 02(04): E113-E116
DOI: 10.1055/a-0655-7345
Orthopedics & Biomechanics
Eigentümer und Copyright ©Georg Thieme Verlag KG 2018

Tuck Jump Assessment as an Indicator for Upper Extremity Injury

Jeff W. Barfield
1   School of Kinesiology, Auburn University, Auburn, United States
,
Gretchen D. Oliver
1   School of Kinesiology, Auburn University, Auburn, United States
› Author Affiliations
Further Information

Publication History

received 06 May 2018
revised 17 June 2018

accepted 21 June 2018

Publication Date:
06 September 2018 (online)

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Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine if tuck jumps can be used as a dynamic movement assessment to ascertain a previous history of upper extremity injury in an overhead throwing sport. Seventy-one youth baseball and softball athletes (28 baseball/43 softball; 12.41±2.22 yrs.; 161.98±13.65 cm; 59.17 ± 14.90 kg) were recruited to participate and were placed in either the previous injury (N=18) or no previous injury (N=53) groups. Kinematic data were collected from jumps 4 through 8 during a trial of 10 tuck jumps performed at 100 Hz using an electromagnetic tracking system (trakSTARTM, Ascension Technologies, Inc., Burlington, VT, USA) synced with the MotionMonitor® (Innovative Sports Training, Chicago, IL, USA). A logistic regression showed no significance in trunk flexion or upper leg elevation in the ability to determine upper extremity injury (χ 2 (1, N=71)=3.55, p=0.315). In conclusion, examining only trunk flexion and upper leg elevation during the tuck jump assessment (TJA) is not enough for clinicians to recognize previous upper extremity injury. Even though the body behaves as a kinetic chain, simplifying the dynamic movement assessment while not specifying the type of upper extremity injury is not favorable for the clinician to identify previous injury.