Hip and Knee Proprioception in Elite, Amateur, and Novice Tennis Players

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: The purposes of this study were: (1) to show the differences of lower limb proprioception in three different groups of normal male subjects-elite, amateur, and novice tennis players-and between the skill-dominant and stance-dominant hip and knee and (2) to test the sensitivity of closed-chain reposition test in the three groups. DESIGN: There were 22, 20, and 20 subjects in the three groups, respectively. Proprioception was tested with the closed-chain reposition method. Absolute error and variable error were calculated. One-way analysis of variance and Tukey's test were used to test the differences. RESULTS: The proprioception of the hip joints of the elite players was significantly better than that of the other two groups in absolute error (P < 0.0167). In variable error analysis, the proprioception of the stance-dominant leg of the elite players was significantly better than that of the novice players (P < 0.0033). CONCLUSIONS: Findings of this study supported that the proprioception of elite players was the best. The closed-chain reposition test had good discriminating power between the elite players and the others.