Comparison of Drop Jump and Tuck Jump Knee Joint Kinematics in Elite Male Youth Soccer Players: Implications for Injury Risk Screening.
Rhodri S Lloyd, Jon L Oliver, Gregory D Myer and 3 others
PMID 31629336WHAT IT FOUND
Tuck jumps exposed more inward knee motion than drop jumps in 57 elite male youth soccer players.
The two tests agreed only moderately, and agreement varied with growth status, so record maturity before interpreting a screening angle.
Key findings
01When all players were analyzed together, the tuck jump showed significantly more medial knee displacement than the drop jump in both legs.
02Right-leg tuck-jump knee angle differed significantly between players around peak height velocity and players after peak height velocity.
03The tests were only moderately related overall, and players before peak height velocity showed weak, nonsignificant correlations between them.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
The study measured jump mechanics at a single time point and did not follow players for injury, so it cannot show that either test predicts ACL injury risk. Knee angles were measured from two-dimensional video, which does not capture movement in all planes or joint rotations. The lowest point of the landing was identified from the frontal-plane video rather than a sagittal-plane camera. Biological maturity was estimated with a regression equation that has about 6 months of error. The sample was 57 elite male soccer players from an academy, and 78% preferred kicking with the right leg. Maturity subgroups were smaller, and the only significant maturity-related tuck-jump difference reported was in the right leg.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that tuck jumps are the best screening test for predicting ACL injury or that a single knee angle proves a player is at risk. This study compared how two jump tests looked in elite male youth soccer players and did not track injuries.