Ankle proprioception during lateral cutting and stroke performance in adolescent table tennis players

This study aims to evaluate the association between ankle-cutting proprioception and stroke performance among adolescent elite table tennis players.

A total of 66 adolescent table tennis players were recruited. Ankle proprioception during lateral cutting movements was assessed using the Ankle Inversion Discrimination Apparatus-Cutting, while sport-specific performance was evaluated through an 80-ball whole-table random placement test (TS80). Hierarchical regression analysis was performed to examine the independent association between ankle proprioception and TS80 scores, controlling for sex, age, and body mass index (BMI).

The baseline model (sex, age, and BMI) significantly predicted stroke performance (R² = 0.26, adjusted R² = 0.23, p = 0.0003). Adding ankle cutting proprioception increased the explained variance by 17% (ΔR² = 0.17, p < 0.001), with the full model explaining 43% of the variance (R² = 0.43, adjusted R² = 0.39, p < 0.001). In the final model, sex (β = 0.55, p < 0.001) and ankle proprioception (β = 0.41, p < 0.001) were significant independent predictors, while age and BMI were not. A significant sex × proprioception interaction (p = 0.012) indicated that the association was stronger in female athletes.

Ankle proprioception during lateral cutting is independently associated with stroke performance in adolescent table tennis players, suggesting that it may be a potential target for future interventional studies aiming at optimizing sport-specific accuracy.