Correlation of single leg vertical jump, single leg hop, and single leg squat distances in healthy persons

Objective: To determine the correlation among three functional tests: single leg vertical jump (SLVJ), single leg hop for distance (SLHD), and single leg squat (SLSQ). Design: Cross sectional study. Methods: Twenty healthy men (n=10) and women (n=10) with no history of lower extremity dysfucntion participated in this study and performed in university research laboratory. The procedures consisted of a general warm-up, a task-specific warm-up, actual testing, and a cool down. All participants performed the three tests in random order. Each test was performed three times for the dominant and non-dominant lower extremity (LE). SLVJ, SLHD, SLSQ were measured using a standard tape measure. Results: Statistically significant difference was presented between dominant LE and non-dominant LE in each function test (p<0.05). The strongest correlation was between SLVJ and SLSQ, 0.939 and 0.883 for dominant and non-dominant LE, respectively (p<0.05). The weakest correlation was between SLVJ and SLHD, 0.713 for dominant (p<0.05) and between SLSQ and SLHD, 0.739 for non-dominant (p<0.05). Conclusions: There is a strong correlation between SLVJ and SLSQ, suggesting that each test measures similar constructs of function and can be substitutive, while weak correlation between SLSQ and SLHD suggest these two tests do not measure the same functional components and could be paired as outcome measures for the clinical assessment of LE function. It will provide physical therapist with scientific evidence for effective test combination of LE function assessment in clinical practice.