Author(s): WANG, D., WANG, Z., YANG, M., QU, K., MAO, X., YANG, X., ZHANG, Z., FANG, W., Institution: SHANGHAI UNIVERSITY OF SPORT, Country: CHINA, Abstract-ID: 964

INTRODUCTION:
Lower extremity injuries (ankle and knee) are most common in basketball. With the increasing participation of women in sports, including basketball, concerns about the risks of sports injuries and their influence on performance have been raised. Womens Chinese Basketball Association (WCBA) competition is the highest level of women’s basketball competition in China. Injury prevention is a vital component for good performance. Stiffness pertains to both injury and performance, which represents the capacity of mechanical and neurophysiologic mechanism integration to prevent injury and improve performance. Basketball players can be classified by position as forwards, centres and guards. Each position was characterized by its risk of injury and specific exercise pattern. It was expected that a difference in stiffness characteristics among basketball players based on position.
METHODS:
A total of 124 participants were recruited for this study, including 63 forwards, 22 centres and 39 guards. Stiffness was evaluated in the pre-game and in-game phases of the 2020-2021 WCBA season. Quasi-static stiffness measurements of muscles and tendons were collected via a handheld myometer (Myoton AS, Tallinn, Estonia) on seven sites of each leg (lateral gastrocnemius, medial gastrocnemius, soleus, Achilles tendon, biceps femoris, rectus femoris, and patellar tendon). Vertical stiffness was evaluated through vertical hop (sing leg) and drop jump (both legs) test with OptoGait optical detection system (MicroGate Corporation, Bolzano, Italy) .
RESULTS:
The Kruskal-Wallis test and post hoc Bonferroni pairwise comparisons found significant differences in stiffness of the left patellar tendon (PT) in guards than centres (p = 0.004) and in guards than forwards (p = 0.012), right PT stiffness in guards than centres (p = 0.016) and in guards than forwards (p = 0.017), mean PT stiffness in guards than centres (p = 0.003) and in guards than forwards (p = 0.008); stiffness of the right soleus (SOL) in guards than forwards (p = 0.033), stiffness of the left biceps femoris (BF) in centres than forwards (p = 0.049) and in centres and guards (p = 0.038); and stiffness of the left vertical stiffness (hopping) in forwards than centres (p = 0.041).
CONCLUSION:
Forwards, centres and guards were characterized by significantly different stiffness values. This might provide basketball coaches with information on lower extremity stiffness at different positions, which could be utilised for athletic performance enhancement and injury prevention.