Validity of HumanTrak Movement Analysis System as a lower limb injury screening tool in competitive male youth footballers

• Main Author: Mohamed Hasif Abdul Hakim
• Other Authors: -
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Nanyang Technological University 2021
• Subjects: Social sciences::Education; Science::General
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/153104
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Competitive youth footballers are at a higher risk of injury compared to adults because of specific musculoskeletal, cognitive and technical factors associated with that age group. Hence, it is imperative more research be done, to investigate objective and simple-to-use systems to assist in effective injury prediction. The HumanTrak Movement Analysis System (HMAS) is a 3-D camera that measures biomechanical data in real-time. The aim of this study is to determine the validity of the HMAS as a lower limb injury screening tool in competitive male youth footballers. It was hypothesised that a lower knee-ankle separation ratio (KASR) would correspond to greater lower limb injury risk (LLIR). 23 injury-free male youth footballers from Singapore Sports School (SSP) were recruited to undergo a drop vertical jump (DVJ) screening protocol, using the HMAS to measure KASR. Injury surveillance was conducted using a combination of prospective and retrospective methods. Retrospective injury data spanning a duration of 9 months prior to the study was obtained from the SSP database. Prospective injury surveillance was conducted for a duration of 2 weeks before COVID-19-mandated restrictions on sports participation were enforced. A non-significant positive dependence of injury incidence on KASR at peak flexion (PF) was found, with a regression slope of 0.283, 95% CI [-0.061 to 0.626], p = 0.102. The results of this study are to be interpreted with consideration to the circumstances wherein training sessions were less than ideal due to the safe distancing measures implemented.