Reliability of the Tuck Jump Assessment Using Standardized Rater Training

Area of Science:

• Biomechanics and Movement Analysis
• Clinical Assessment Tools
• Physical Therapy Interventions

Background:

• The Tuck Jump Assessment (TJA) is utilized to identify technique flaws during high-intensity jumping.
• Standardized training is lacking to optimize the TJA's measurement properties for broad clinical use.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the reliability of the TJA among diverse healthcare professionals after completing online standardized training.
• To test the hypothesis that the TJA total score would demonstrate moderate to excellent intra- and interrater reliability.

Main Methods:

• A cross-sectional reliability study was conducted.
• An online training module with videos and descriptors for 10 TJA technique flaws was developed and validated.
• Three raters (physical therapist, athletic trainer, certified strength and conditioning coach) underwent training, scored 41 TJA videos twice over two weeks, and reliability was calculated using intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) and Krippendorff's alpha (K α).

Main Results:

• Eleven of 50 individual technique flaws exceeded the acceptable reliability threshold (K α = 0.80).
• The TJA total score demonstrated moderate interrater reliability in both scoring sessions (Session 1 ICC = 0.64, Session 2 ICC = 0.56).
• Individual rater reliability varied from moderate (ICC = 0.62) to excellent (ICC = 0.98).

Conclusions:

• While the TJA total score showed acceptable reliability across raters after online training, individual technique flaw assessment lacked consistency.
• The findings suggest that the TJA total score should be interpreted with caution due to potential inaccuracies compared to individual flaw analysis.