Reliability of two-dimensional measures associated with bilateral drop-landing performance

Abstract

The aim of this study was to establish the within-session reliability for two-dimensional (2D) video analysis of sagittal- and frontal-plane measures during bilateral drop-landing tasks. Thirty-nine recreational athletes (22 men, 17 women, age = 22 ± 4 years, height = 1.74 ± 0.15 m, body mass 70.2 ± 15.1 kg) performed five bilateral drop-landings from 50, 100 and 150% of maximum countermovement jump height, twice on the same day. Measures of reliability for initial contact angle, peak flexion angle and joint displacement for the hip, knee, and ankle joints, frontal-plane projection angles (FPPA), as well as inter-limb asymmetries in joint displacement were assessed. No systematic bias was present between trials (P>0.05). All kinematic measurements showed relative reliability ranging from large to near perfect (ICC = 0.52–0.96). Absolute reliability ranged between measures, with CV% between 1.0–1.6% for initial contact angles, 1.9–7.9% for peak flexion angles, 5.3–22.4% for joint displacement, and 1.6–2.3% for FPPA. Absolute reliability for inter-limb asymmetries in joint displacement were highly variable, with minimal detectable change values ranging from 6.0–13.2°. Therefore, 2D video analysis is a reliable tool for numerous measures related to the performance of bilateral drop-landings.