Multidirectional Isometric Assessment of the Hip

Multidirectional Isometric Assessment of the Hip in Young Swimmers

With the exception of the shoulder, the hip is among the most frequently injured areas in swimmers. Despite this, hip injuries are often overlooked in training and prevention programmes. Such neglect can cause significant damage to muscles, particularly the adductors, and the joint itself, potentially requiring arthroscopic surgery or even leading to secondary injuries in related structures such as the knee. Furthermore, hip strength and range of motion directly affect swimmers' underwater kicking speed. Although hip assessments are common in other sports, like football, for injury prevention and performance analysis-both dynamically and isometrically-isometric testing is particularly recommended due to its higher reproducibility.

Therefore, this study aims to validate a multidirectional isometric hip test in swimmers and examine agonist-antagonist muscle ratios in young advanced swimmers.

A comparative analysis will be conducted on 30 elite swimmers. This will include a descriptive analysis of the group and comparative analyses between breaststroke/non-breaststroke swimmers and between genders. Maximum isometric contractions of both lower limbs will be measured using a Chronojump force sensor (Boscosystem, Barcelona, Spain).

Athletes will stand on a step positioned centrally within a rack or cage, either laterally or frontally depending on the movement assessed (ABD-ADD or flexion-extension, respectively). They will grip the appropriate supports with their hands and perform three maximal efforts of each movement lasting 3 seconds, without compensatory actions (any attempt with compensations will be discounted). There will be a 20-second rest between attempts. All three attempts will be recorded.

To assess measurement reliability, tests will be repeated after 48 hours for subsequent comparison.

Study Overview

• Status: Not yet recruiting
• Conditions: Sports Physical Therapy; Hip; Assessment, Self
• Intervention / Treatment: Diagnostic test: Multidirectional Isometric Assessment of the Hip

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 55
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Pablo Hernández, Phd; Phone Number: 675675489; Email: phernandez@uvigo.es

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Child; Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Aged between 14 and 18 years.
• Swimmers who train at least 15 hours weekly.
• Swimmers who have participated in the national championship this season.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Swimmers with any current hip or lower limb pathology.
• Swimmers who have required hip surgery.
• Swimmers who, for any other reason, are unable to complete an isometric maximal strength test.
• No ability to perform the Multidirectional Isometric Assessment of the Hip without compensatory movements.
• Refusal to sign informed consent (or legal guardian's consent for minors).

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Diagnostic
• Allocation: N/A
• Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

1

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Other: Validation of Isometric Assessment of the Hip in Swimmers; Participants perform isometric tests (flexion, extension, ABD, ADD) to assess isometric hip strength at different basic movements over two sessions. Data is collected to evaluate the reliability and validity of these tests for swimmers.	Diagnostic test: Multidirectional Isometric Assessment of the Hip; Participants perform isometric tests (flexion, extension, ABD, ADD) to assess isometric hip strength at different basic movements over two sessions. Data is collected to evaluate the reliability and validity of these tests for swimmers.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC) for Multidirectional Isometric Test.	Assessment of between-day reliability of the Multidirectional Isometric Test using intraclass correlation Coefficients (ICC) for hip flexion, extension, abduction and adduction movements.	Measured at two time points: baseline (Day 0) and follow-up (Day 2).
Coefficient of Variation (CV) for Multidirectional Isometric Test.	Analysis of the coefficient of variation (CV) to evaluate data dispersion and consistency for Multidirectional Isometric Test.	Measured at two time points: baseline (Day 0) and follow-up (Day 2).
Minimum Detectable Change (MDC) for Multidirectional Isometric Test.	Calculation of the minimum detectable change (MDC) to identify the smallest significant change in performance beyond measurement error for Multidirectional Isometric Test. (MDC90: Minimal Detectable Change at 90% Confidence; MDC%: Minimal Detectable Change Percentage).	Measured at two time points: baseline (Day 0) and follow-up (Day 2).
Force Ratios Between for Multidirectional Isometric Test.	Evaluation of the agonist-antagonist strength ratios between hip flexion, extension, abduction and adduction movements.	Measured at point baseline (Day 0).

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Vigo

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Estimated): April 28, 2025
• Primary Completion (Estimated): May 5, 2025
• Study Completion (Estimated): June 30, 2025

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: April 13, 2025
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 22, 2025
• First Posted (Actual): April 23, 2025

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): April 27, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 23, 2025
• Last Verified: April 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Other Study ID Numbers: Cadera

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No