Can you predict your risk of a non-contact lower limb injury?
The SERB grid pattern
You can if you know what a SEBT (star excursion balance test) is.
The SEBT tests your unilateral leg reach and balance in four anterior and four posterior directions. All you need is some tape, a tape measure, and a helpful assistant. This video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GMzE7NV3W0) explains the method. Trust me when I say it is not as easy as it looks to do correctly!
A 2017 study in The Journal Of Orthopaedic And Sports Physical Therapy (https://www.jospt.org/doi/pdf/10.2519/jospt.2017.6974)
concluded that side-to-side reach asymmetry in the anterior directions can be used to assess an athlete’s risk of non-contact knee or ankle injury. Put simply if one leg reaches further than the other you are at a greater risk of knee or ankle injury. Unlike prior studies, which had reached a similar conclusion, this one sought to normalise SEBT results across sports, genders, and athlete exposure (game time).
Ideally, you want your unilateral leg reach to be symmetrical but this is rarely the case. So how big an asymmetry is required to significantly increase your injury risk? A 2006 study of basketball players in The Journal Of Orthopaedic And Sports Physical Therapy
concluded that an asymmetry of greater than 4cm increased injury risk by 2.5 times. The good news is that practicing the test will help to reduce your asymmetries. If you’ve been blighted by lower limb niggles and injuries throw the SEBT into your exercise warm-up as a simple way to reduce your non-contact lower limb injury risk.
Stay informed and enjoy your fitness training :-)