Before the beginning of each sampling two practical trials were held for the participants to familiarize themselves with the tests, followed by three official tests with data recording. For the performance of the hop tests all the participants were instructed to keep their arms crossed in the region of the lumbar spine and told to selleckchem jump according to the test in question, maintaining stability upon landing. For the Single Hop Test the participants hopped on one leg at a time, attempting to get as far as possible with a single hop; in the Triple Hop Test the participants made three consecutive hops with the same limb, aiming to cover the longest distance possible; In the Cross-Over Hop Test, the participants made three consecutive hops crossing a 15cm thick line previously marked on the ground; In the Timed Hop Test they hopped as quickly as possible until they reached a predetermined distance of 6 meters.
8 In previous studies, the interclass reliability coefficient for the Single Hop Test was 0.92-0.96; Triple Hop Test – 0.95-0.97; Cross-Over Hop Test – 0.93-0.96 and Timed Hop Test – 0.66-0.92. 9 , 10 Figure 1 Explanatory illustration for performance. Postural stability level The assessment was carried out at eight different levels of stability of the platform, with eight corresponding to the most stable level and one to the most instable level (covering 3.75 seconds at each level). The participants were allowed to rest for 60 seconds between tests. This platform was interconnected to a program (Biodex, version 3.1, Biodex, Inc.
) that allowed an objective evaluation of postural stability through three indices: the overall stability index (OSI), anterior-posterior stability index (APSI) medial-lateral stability index (MLSI). (Figure 2) These indices are calculated through the degree of oscillation of the platform, where the lower the index the better the stability of the individual tested.11 In a study by Salavati et al. 8 an interclass reliability coefficient of 0.77 and 0.99 was found with the same methodology used in the present study. 8 Figure 2 Athlete during performance of assessment on the Biodex platform. The test protocol performed was unipodal, composed of two periods of adaptation to the apparatus and three consecutive assessment tests.
The test order was randomized by drawing lots and the athletes were positioned with their arms parallel to the longitudinal axis of the body, keeping their hands in contact with their thighs, eyes AV-951 open and fixed on a point on a white wall at a distance of 1m from the equipment, with their knees between 10�� and 15�� of flexion and keeping the hip in neutral position. After the three tests the software of the apparatus issued the stability index based on the degree of oscillation of the platform during the assessments. Statistical analysis First of all, the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was used to verify data normality.