Return to Play Assessment After Lateral Ankle Sprains - German Male Elite Youth Football (Soccer) Academy Baseline Data.
Zacharias Flore, Götz Welsch, Hendrik Bloch
PMID 39268225WHAT IT FOUND
In 20 uninjured male elite youth footballers, dynamic tests showed better results than previously reported cohorts, but direction-corrected limb symmetry tests flagged more side differences than the usual 90% rule.
Key findings
01Uninjured male elite youth footballers averaged 99.3 ± 8.3 on the dominant-leg Y-Balance total score and 99.5 ± 10.4 on the non-dominant leg, 27.1 ± 5.4 heel rises on the dominant leg and 25.2 ± 5.1 on the non-dominant leg, side hop times of 7.12 ± 0.73 and 7.39 ± 0.93 seconds, figure-of-8 times of 10.52 ± 1.02 and 10.37 ± 1.04 seconds, and a modified agility T-test time of 5.81 ± 0.22 seconds.
02For drop-jump ground contact time and jump height, traditional LSI below 90% identified 3 players (15.0%) and 5 players (25.0%), while direction-corrected LSI identified 9 players (45%) and 13 players (65%); for side hop, traditional LSI below 90% identified 2 players (10.0%) and direction-corrected LSI identified 5 players (25%).
03Ten players (50%) had a dominant-leg Y-Balance total score below 99.9%, ten players (50%) had a non-dominant-leg total score below 99.9%, and 45.0% (9/20) had a posteromedial range difference of 4 centimetres or more.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
The sample was small: 20 uninjured male elite youth footballers from three teams in one academy, and a complete squad was not tested. The results cannot be generalized to female athletes or to other levels of athletes. Testing took about 60 minutes per athlete, which the authors say may be too time consuming for daily academy practice and may have limited the sample size. Only three Y-Balance trial runs were done instead of six recommended, so learning effects may have influenced scores. Comparisons with previous studies were limited by heterogeneous cohorts, different test setups, and outdoor artificial-turf conditions for the agility test. No injured players were assessed, so the paper does not show whether these baseline values predict return to play or reduce recurrent ankle sprains.
Declared interests
VBG funded the data collection as part of a pilot study. One author is employed by VBG, and two authors were employed by Hamburger SV. All authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not use these baseline values as return-to-play norms for female, non-elite, or other athletes. The study included only 20 uninjured male elite youth footballers, and the authors state the results cannot be generalized to other levels or female athletes.