A pilot study for the prevention of lower limbs injuries in youth female basketball players

Introduction Female basketball players, compared to male athletes, are characterized by an increased risk of lower limbs injuries. For this reason, aim of this pilot study was to investigate the effects the Italian Basketball Injuries Prevention Program (IBIPP) especially designed for female athletes Methods Forty-five young, female, regional level basketball players (16\ub12 y-o; 52.9\ub111.4 kg; 160\ub11 cm; 20.1\ub13.1 kg/m2), were enrolled in a in a 16-wks protocol consisting of 3 session/week of 2 hours. All subjects were divided in two groups: 23 in the \u201cIBIPP Group\u201d and 22 in a \u201ccontrol\u201d group. The IBIPP program consisted of 25 min active mobility, strength and agility exercises whereas the control group did the normal training routine. Subjects were tested at baseline (BL) and week 16 (W16) by Y excursion balance test, Counter Movement Jump (CMJ) and one legged CMJ (Optojump, Microgate, Bolzano, Italy). Adherence at the training program was registered and the estimation of injuries was calculated according to the study of Knowles et al., 2006. Differences over time were assessed with paired T-test and differences between groups with unpaired t-test. Results were expressed as mean \ub1SD. Significant differences were found p