Tuck Jump Assessment: An Exploratory Factor Analysis in a College Age Population

Department

Athletic Training

Document Type

Article

Publication Source

Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research

Publication Date

2017-3

Volume

31

Issue

3

First Page

653

Last Page

659

Abstract

Due to the high rate of noncontact lower extremity injuries that occur in the collegiate setting, medical personnel are implementing screening mechanisms to identify those athletes that may be at risk for certain injuries before starting a sports season. The tuck jump assessment (TJA) was created as a “clinician friendly” tool to identify lower extremity landing technique flaws during a plyometric activity. There are 10 technique flaws that are assessed as either having the apparent deficit or not during the TJA. Technique flaws are then summed up for an overall score. Through expert consensus, these 10 technique flaws have been grouped into 5 modifiable risk factors: ligament dominance, quadriceps dominance, leg dominance or residual injury deficits, trunk dominance (“core” dysfunction), and technique perfection. Research has not investigated the psychometric properties of the TJA technique flaws or the modifiable risk factors. The present study is a psychometric analysis of the TJA technique flaws to measure the internal structure using an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) using data from collegiate athletes (n = 90) and a general college cohort (n = 99). The EFA suggested a 3 factor model accounting for 46% of the variance. The 3 factors were defined as fatigue, distal landing pattern, and proximal control. The results differ from the 5 modifiable risk categories as previously suggested. These results may question the use of a single score, a unidimensional construct, of the TJA for injury screening.

DOI

10.1519/JSC.0000000000001186

https://journals.lww.com/nsca-jscr/fulltext/2017/03000/Tuck_Jump_Assessment___An_Exploratory_Factor.10.aspx

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