The effect of landing surface on landing error scoring system grades

Area of Science:

• Biomechanics
• Sports Medicine
• Injury Prevention

Background:

• Landing surfaces can influence lower extremity biomechanics during athletic activities.
• The impact of different surfaces on clinical jump-landing screening measures remains unclear.
• Understanding these effects is crucial for accurate injury risk assessment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the effect of court, grass, and tile surfaces on Landing Error Scoring System (LESS) grades.
• To determine if landing surface type influences biomechanical performance during jump-landings.
• To assess the generalizability of LESS as an injury risk screening tool across different environments.

Main Methods:

• A repeated-measures design was employed with 40 recreational athletes (21 female, 19 male).
• Participants performed a jump-landing task on three distinct surfaces: court, grass, and tile.
• Two-dimensional videography captured jump-landings in frontal and sagittal planes, analyzed using a 2x3 mixed-model ANOVA.

Main Results:

• No significant interaction effects were found between sex and landing surface on LESS grades.
• There were no significant differences in LESS grades across court, grass, and tile surfaces (p > 0.05).
• Significant correlations were observed between LESS grades across the different tested conditions (r range = 0.587-0.611, p < 0.001).

Conclusions:

• Commonly used surfaces for clinical biomechanical evaluations do not alter LESS grades.
• The Landing Error Scoring System demonstrates generalizability as a screening tool for anterior cruciate ligament injury risk.
• These findings support the use of LESS across diverse athletic settings for injury risk assessment.