Landing from blocking jumps in women’s volleyball

Landing from blocking jumps in women’s volleyball Introduction The frequency of knee injuries (e.g. ACL lesions and patellar tendonitis) in volleyball is very high: the causes of these injuries have often been hypothesized due to the landing phases in airborne actions such as spike and block. Watkins & Green3, stated that 15% of accidents occurred in the landing phase, and Cassel1 noted that 60% of the acute injuries happened landing from block and attack with or without contact with other player. The purpose of this study was to determine tendencies in landing from blocking activities. Methods 8 female teams of the Italian Professional Leagues were analysed and the landing phase of the jumps were classified by type of technique (left foot, right foot or two feet together) and court positions. Chi-square analyses were performed with the level of significance set at 0.05 to detect differences among positions when blocking. Results Table 1: Comparison between Blocking positions Number of jumps Percentage Both Left Right Both Left Right Pos. 4 201 52 46 67.2 17.4 15.4 Pos. 2 370 34 4 90.7 8.3 1.0 Pos. 3 217 174 244 34.2 27.4 38.4 Total 788 260 294 58.7 19.4 21.9 In females a significant difference was found (χ2 (4) = 353.70; p< 0.001) but while outside blockers landed bilaterally 67% of 299 in position 4 and 91% of 408 in position 2), in the middle players landed more with the right foot (38%), then with either feet (34%) and less with the left foot (27%). Discussion Middle blockers land more often with only one foot as they have to move quicker in both directions. Blockers’ landings in positions 2 and 4 were expected to be similar as equal numbers of blocks are made in these two positions. Conclusion The type of landing techniques were already analysed but the reliability of the data presented in this report is higher because higher number of match analysed and subjects are top level players. The present study allows previous biomechanical research that considered bilateral landings to be compared with the reality of the game situation: previous laboratory findings could be considered for outside blockers. To complete the analysis further investigations relative to the middle blockers should be designed with players moving laterally before the jump and landing with only one foot. References 1. Cassel E, Cassel E. (2001) Monash University Accident Research Centre. 2. Tillman MD, Hass CJ, Brunt D, Bennet GR. (2004) Journal of sports science and medicine, 3, 30-36 3. Watkins J, Green BN. (1992) British Journal Sports Medicine, 26(2), 135-137