INTER AND INTRA-RATER RELIABILITY OF THE DROP VERTICAL JUMP (DVJ) ASSESSMENT

Non-contact injuries are common in sports as abnormal lower extremity joint mechanics can place athletes at risk for injury. It is important to have reliable, feasible, cost-effective assessment tools to determine lower limb control and injury risk.

The purpose of the study was to assess the intra- and inter-rater reliability of a three-tiered anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury risk rating assessment of the drop vertical jump using frontal plane, two-dimensional (2-D) motion capture.

Repeated measures.

Twenty male elite basketball athletes performed the drop vertical jump during a 2-D video assessment at Mayo Clinic Sports Medicine Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. DVJ scores indicated the following: 1 no visible knee valgus, 2 slight wobble, inward motion of the knees, and 3 knee collision or large frontal plane knee excursion. Score assessment from video of the drop vertical jump was obtained by four independent investigators. The four raters then re-examined the same videos 1 month later, blinded to their original scores.

Intra-rater reliability Fleiss Kappa measure of agreement was substantial amongst all four raters at all scoring time points: initial contact (0.672), first landing (0.728), second landing (0.670), and peak valgus (0.662) (p < 0.001). The intra-rater ICC values were good at initial contact (0.809), second landing (0.874), and max valgus (0.885), however were excellent at first landing (0.914) (p < 0.001). Inter-rater reliability Fleiss Kappa measurement scores were slight at initial contact (0.173), fair at max valgus (0.343), and moderate at first landing (0.532) and second landing (0.514; p < 0.001). Inter-rater ICC values were moderate at initial contact (0.588), excellent at first landing (0.919), and good at second landing (0.883) and max valgus (0.882; p<0.001).

When comparing scores of the drop vertical jump between four independent raters across two sessions, the study demonstrated substantial Kappa and good to excellent ICC intra-rater reliability. Inter-rater reliability demonstrated slight to moderate Kappa measurements of agreement and moderate to excellent ICC's. Thus, for excellent reliability using this assessment, patients should be scored by one individual. For moderate reliability between multiple raters, the first landing of the DVJ should be scored. Findings indicate that the proposed drop vertical jump assessment may be used for reliable identification of abnormal landing mechanics.

Level 3.