BACKGROUND: This prospective study aimed to investigate the relationship between static balance and the incidence of non-contact anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury in female high school athletes.
METHODS: This study included 276 female high school handball or basketball players. At the time of admission, each subject's static balance was measured with a gravicorder, and the incidence of non-contact ACL injury was investigated in the 3 years until the student graduated. The measured parameters of postural sway were locus length per time (the distance that a center of gravity of the foot pressure moves per second) and environmental area (AR: the area surrounded by the integumentary covering of the trace of the center of gravity). Twenty-seven players (9.8%) experienced an ACL injury during the 3-year observation period. Twenty-four injured players sustained a non-contact injury and three injured players sustained a contact injury. In this study, the three contact injury players were excluded. We compared the differences in the static balance between injured and uninjured players.
RESULTS: The locus length per time was significantly longer in injured than in uninjured players (p = 0.046). Though there was no statistically significant difference between the two groups in AR (p = 0.190), AR tended to be larger in the ACL injured group.
CONCLUSIONS: This result shows that poor static balance is a risk factor for non-contact ACL injury.
Language: en
Keywords
Basketball player; Female; Gravicorder; Handball player; High school