Asymmetry of single leg jump and lateral shuffle performance in pre-juvenile basketball players

The aims of this study were to: 1) assess and compare the performance of lateral shuffles and lower limbs jumps among pre-juvenile basketball players; and 2) calculate the asymmetry scores of these assessment methods and examine the association between their performance and existing inter-limb differences. Thirty-nine pre-juvenile basketball athletes (23 boys and 16 girls) performed the countermovement jump, single leg countermovement jump, single leg lateral jump, single leg broad jump, and four shuffle tests (2 distances of 2.5 and 5 m × 2 in each direction) on separate days. Results revealed significant differences between the left and right shuffle at distances of both 2.5 m (p < 0.05) and 5 m (p < 0.01), with inter-limb asymmetry scores ranging from 3.3 – 5.1%. There was no significant difference between the performance of the left and right legs in each single-leg jump test, while the inter-limb asymmetry values ranged from 5.3 – 8.6%. Correlation analysis showed there were no correlations between the inter-limb asymmetry, shuffle asymmetry and performance, while the right single leg countermovement jump performance were significantly correlated with shuffle performance (all p < 0.00119). Shuffle performance in different directions exhibits significant differences which were unrelated to inter-limb asymmetry, demonstrating the task-specific nature of asymmetry and natural variability seen in lateral movements of pre-juvenile basketball players. Practitioners are advised to use a diversified approach to assess asymmetry. These findings have implications for injury prevention and performance enhancement.