Biomechanical analysis of an inciting event of ankle sprain on basketball players

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to identify Kinematics and electromyography differences on jump among healthy and already sprained ankles of basketball players. 25 elite basketball players, with healthy (n=17) and already sprained ankles (n=28) jumped five times in barefoot unipodal support from a stable surface to round Freeman board. Athletes with already sprained ankles showed short flying time during the jump which may indicate less preparation time for contact moment and load. When landing, they also positioned their ankle in more plantar flexion and generally, used a higher level of foot muscles contraction, than did healthy athletes. Different movement behaviour during jump on both groups lower leg, possibly leads to an ankle sprain event. These results indicate that there might be necessary to train athletes’ jumps in “safe positions” in order to prevent ankle sprains.