The Relationship between Ankle Joint Kinematics and Impact Forces during Unilateral Jump-Landing Tasks in University-Level Netball Players: A Pilot Study

Netball is a sport that involves multiplane- and multidirectional landings, which results in a high proportion of injuries, particularly to the ankle joint. The purpose of this study was to analyse the ankle kinematics in multiple planes during multidirectional single-leg landings in high-level netball players. A total of ten (n = 10) netball players voluntarily participated in the study. All netball players performed 25 single-leg jump landing maneuvers per leg (dominant and non-dominant) from a 0.30 m high platform, landing onto a 0.70 m away force plate platform. Their ankle kinematic, landing kinetic and time to stabilisation (TTS) data were collected in sagittal-, frontal- and transverse planes. Netball players showed mean differences in peak landing forces (F (8,91) = 2.68, p = 0.009) but not in TTS (F (8,91) = 2.27, p = 0.260). There was evidence of differences in ankle kinematics across all three planes [Sagittal: (F (9,81) = 3.48, p = 0.001); Frontal: (F (9,81) = 8.01, p < 0.001); Transverse: (F (9,81) = 8.80, p < 0.001)]. Furthermore, small to large negative (r = -0.55) correlations were observed between ankle range of motion (ROM) and peak landing forces. Associated landing forces can be moderated by greater sagittal plane ankle ROM during multidirectional landings to minimise the risk of ankle injuries in netball.