Is there association between cutting and jump-landing movement quality in semi-professional football players? Implications for ACL injury risk screening.

Objectives: To investigate the relationship between the Landing Error Scoring System (LESS) and Cutting Movement Assessment Score (CMAS) to evaluate movement quality, their intra- (INTRAob) and inter-observer (INTERob) reliability, and the comparison between the two drop vertical jump (DVJ) landings (1st and 2nd).

Design: Cross-sectional.

Participants: 42 male semi-professional soccer players performed three trials of DVJ and 70° change of direction with a ball located as an external focus.

Main Outcome Measures: Movement quality was evaluated through 2D video footage using the CMAS and LESS, screened by two observers. Relational, comparative and reliability analyses were conducted.

Results: Both tools showed moderate to substantial (ICC = 0.58-0.71), and substantial to almost perfect (ICC = 0.68-0.87) INTRAob and INTERob reliability, respectively. No significant associations were found among CMAS, LESS 1st and 2nd for either scores or risk profiles (r = -0.158-0.202, p > 0.05). LESS 2nd was moderately higher (ES = 0.80-0.83, p = 0.002-0.007) than 1st scores.

Conclusions: CMAS and LESS are reliable tools to evaluate movement quality, although evaluations should be preferably performed by the same observer; ACL injury risk profile's is task-dependent; both landings of the DVJ should be assessed as they represent different biomechanical and neuromuscular control deficits.