Star Excursion Balance Test as a Predictor of Lower Extremity Injury in High School Basketball Players

STUDY DESIGN: Prospective cohort. OBJECTIVE: To determine if Star Excursion Balance Test (SEBT) reach distance was associated with risk of lower extremity injury among high school basketball players. BACKGROUND: Although balance has been proposed as a risk factor for sports-related injury, few researchers have used a dynamic balance test to examine this relationship. METHODS AND MEASURES: Prior to the 2004 basketball season, the anterior, posteromedial, and posterolateral SEBT reach distances and limb lengths of 235 high school basketball players were measured bilaterally. The Athletic Health Care System Daily Injury Report was used to document time loss injuries. After normalizing for lower limb length, each reach distance, right/left reach distance difference, and composite reach distance were examined using odds ratio and logistic regression analyses. RESULTS: The reliability of the SEBT components ranged from 0.82 to 0.87 (ICC3,1) and was 0.99 for the measurement of limb length. Logistic regression models indicated that players with an anterior right/left reach distance difference greater than 4 cm were 2.5 times more likely to sustain a lower extremity injury (P<.05). Girls with a composite reach distance less than 94.0% of their limb length were 6.5 times more likely to have a lower extremity injury (P<.05). CONCLUSIONS: We found components of the SEBT to be reliable and predictive measures of lower extremity injury in high school basketball players. Our results suggest that the SEBT can be incorporated into preparticipation physical examinations to identify basketball players who are at increased risk for injury.