the effect of selective plyometric training on the lower extremity functional performance indexes of female athletes with dynamic knee valgus

Purpose: considering the high prevalence of dynamic valgus and its impact on sports performance among the female athletes, the present study aimed to examine the effect of a course of selective plyometric training on the lower extremity functional performance indexes of female athletes with dynamic knee valgus. methods: this research was a quasi-experimental study with a pretest-post-test design. the study population comprised the athletic girls with dynamic valgus referring to bu-ali sina gymnasium of the university of hamadan in 2018. of them, 26 eligible girls who met the inclusion criteria were selected purposefully and then randomly assigned into experimental (mean±sd age=20.25±2.34 y, mean±sd bmi=21.27±2.75 kg/m2) and control (mean±sd age=21.16±2.79 y, mean±sd bmi=21.60±2.68 kg/m2) groups. the experimental group performed specific plyometric training for 8 weeks, 3 times a week. assessing the dependent variable was done using dynamic balance, sargent and illinois agility tests in the pretest and post-test. the comparisons between experimental and control groups in the pretest and post-test were made by analysis of covariance and the dependent t-tests, respectively in spss v. 20. the significance level was set at 0.05 or lower. results: considering the pretest as the covariate parameter, a significant improvement was found for total dynamic balance (p=0.005), anterior leg (p=0.001), medial-posterior leg (p=0.001), lateral-posterior side of right leg (p=0.028), vertical jump (p=0.001) and illinois jumping test score (p=0.001) in the experimental group. conclusion: an improvement was seen in the dynamic balance and the movement performance of the participants with dynamic valgus after doing plyometric exercises that result in subsequent improvement in their exercise performance.