A COMPARISON OF DROP VERTICAL JUMP BIOMECHANICS SYMMETRY INDICES IN HEALTHY FEMALES

Abstract

ABSTRACT Asymmetrical lower extremity movement has been identified as an important risk factor in humans during gait ant and dynamic tasks in recent years. There is currently no standard symmetry assessment tool that has been validated and is clinically applicable. A new symmetry index was recently proposed – the Normalized Symmetry Index (NSI) – to serve as a possible candidate for standardizing the assessment of symmetry in dynamic tasks. This purpose of the present study is to compare the previous indices used to assess symmetry with this new index using the biomechanical data derived from healthy female athletes. All 5 indices produced varying percentages for each individual biomechanical variable. Since this study did not identify a superior index, there is no clinical recommendation for which index to use when assessing symmetry. The results produced would serve best as normative data to validate future research that will determine the best standard symmetry index.