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Abstract
Background
Functional performance tests (FPT) have been used with athletes following an injury to
determine readiness to return-to-play (RTP), usually using limb symmetry indices to the
contralateral limb or a baseline score. There is not a consensus as to which criterion
scores are best compared.
Hypothesis/Purpose
This study aimed to compare common functional performance test scores from injured
athletes at the time of release to RTP to both preseason baseline scores and to the
contralateral limb. It was hypothesized that using baseline scores for comparison would
be more responsive to residual deficits following injury than using the contralateral limb.
Study Design
Prospective longitudinal cohort study
Methods
High school athletes (n=395) from all varsity sports completed a battery of FPTs
including the Y-Balance Test (YBT), single limb hop tests and T-Test for agility (TT)
during their preseason to establish baseline data. Injured athletes (n=19) were re-tested
using all FTP’s again at the time of RTP. Paired t-tests were used to detect if significant
(p<0.05) residual deficits were present at time of RTP when compared to baseline and to
contralateral scores on FPTs.
Results
Differences in YBT scores were found in the anterior direction only (p=0.021) when
comparing RTP to preseason, but there were no differences when compared to RTP data
for the contralateral limb. Differences were detected with the single leg hop test (p =
0.001) when comparing the RTP to preseason and were also detected in both the single
leg hop (p= 0.001) and triple hop (p=0.018) when compared to the contralateral limb.
Differences in TT scores were detected when comparing RTP to preseason for cutting first
with both the unaffected (p = 0.019) and affected (p = 0.014) limbs.