A KINEMATIC PROFILE OF SKILLS IN PROFESSIONAL BASKETBALL PLAYERS

Overuse injuries are common in basketball. To gain insight into their etiology and relationship to mechanics, researchers and clinicians nee d an understanding of the normal biomechanics of the sport. This study was undertaken with this goal in mind. Lower extremity joint kinemati cs and structural parameters were collected from 24 players from five professional basketball teams as they performed maneuvers typical of t heir sport. The results indicated that certain common moves such as th e layup landing resulted in knee flexion velocities almost double thos e seen during the landing phase of running. Lateral movements such as cutting and shuffling placed the foot in extreme positions of supinati on. Both of these findings have implications for injuries common to ba sketball such as patellar tendinitis and ankle sprains. It is hoped th at this information will initiate a database for normal lower extremit y kinematics during basketball and lead to a greater understanding of the relationship of lower extremity movement patterns and injury.