Reliability of a Novel Qualitative Assessment Tool for Evaluating a Run Plant Task

Area of Science:

• Sports Medicine
• Biomechanics
• Injury Prevention

Background:

• Young female athletes face a high risk of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries due to sex-specific movement patterns.
• Identifying at-risk individuals through screening tools is crucial for developing effective injury prevention strategies.
• Movement errors during deceleration tasks are key targets for intervention.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the intra- and inter-rater reliability of a qualitative assessment tool for trunk and lower extremity alignment during a run-plant task.
• To determine if the tool could reliably identify movement faults associated with ACL injury risk in female athletes.

Main Methods:

• A repeated measures design was used, with two raters assessing videos of 25 female athletes (ages 12-17) performing a run-plant task.
• Raters used a checklist to score movement faults, with each video assessed twice after a two-week interval.
• Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) were calculated to assess reliability.

Main Results:

• Intra-rater reliability was poor to moderate (ICC range: 0.43-0.54).
• Inter-rater reliability was moderate in the first round (ICC=0.66) but poor in the second (ICC=0.32).
• Medial foot position and sagittal alignment showed good reliability; dynamic valgus and preparatory steps had high percent agreement but lower ICCs.

Conclusions:

• The qualitative assessment tool demonstrated limited reliability for several items and the total score.
• High percent agreement for some items suggests potential underestimation of rater consistency due to data skew.
• Further refinement of scoring item definitions is necessary for reliable clinical application.