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Int J Sports Med 2023; 44(07): 505-515
DOI: 10.1055/a-1989-9602
Training & Testing

Ultrasound Measurements and Physical Fitness of Elite Youth Basketball Players

Juan Francisco Lisón   ‡
1   Department of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, University CEU Cardenal Herrera, CEU Universities, Alfara del Patriarca, Spain
2   CIBER of Physiopathology of Obesity and Nutrition CIBERobn, CB06/03 Carlos III Health Institute, Madrid, Spain
,
Sergio García-Herreros   ‡
3   Dawako Medtech, S.L. – Dpto. Medical Imaging (Ultrasound)
4   Physiotherapy, Faculty of Physiotherapy, Universitat de Valencia, Valencia, Spain
,
Borja Ricart
5   Physical Education and Sports Department, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain
6   Alqueria LAB, Valencia Basket, Valencia, Spain
,
Eduardo Jorge Godoy 
3   Dawako Medtech, S.L. – Dpto. Medical Imaging (Ultrasound)
7   Computational Multiscale Simulation Lab, Department of Computer Science, Universitat de Valencia, Valencia, Spain
,
Sara Nozal
3   Dawako Medtech, S.L. – Dpto. Medical Imaging (Ultrasound)
,
Pedro Cotolí-Suarez
5   Physical Education and Sports Department, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain
6   Alqueria LAB, Valencia Basket, Valencia, Spain
,
Jaime Jordán-López
1   Department of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, University CEU Cardenal Herrera, CEU Universities, Alfara del Patriarca, Spain
,
Juan José Amer-Cuenca
8   Department of Nursing and Physiotherapy, Faculty of Health Sciences, University CEU Cardenal Herrera, CEU Universities, Alfara del Patriarca, Spain
,
Pablo Salvador-Coloma
3   Dawako Medtech, S.L. – Dpto. Medical Imaging (Ultrasound)
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Abstract

The countermovement jump, the V-cut test, the muscle thickness and the adjacent subcutaneous fat thickness of the gastrocnemius medialis and rectus femoris are important physiological indicators for success in basketball. The aims of this study were to evaluate between-age-category and between-gender differences in these indicators and examine the relationships between physical tests and ultrasound measurements. The measurements were recorded in a sample of 131 elite basketball players (66 males) who played in three age-categories (U14, U16, or U18). We performed two-way analysis of covariance tests and age-adjusted partial correlation analyses. U16 and U18 males showed better performance in the countermovement jump and V-cut tests and lower adjacent subcutaneous fat thickness of the gastrocnemius medialis and rectus femoris compared to the U14 males (p≤.001) and to age-category equivalent female players (p≤.001). Comparisons between the age categories in females did not show significant differences in any of the study variables. Adjacent subcutaneous fat thickness of the gastrocnemius medialis explained 22.3% of the variation for the countermovement jump result and 12.9% of the variation for the V-cut result in males (p<.01). This study is the first to show the association and predictive role of subcutaneous fat thickness measured by ultrasound in physical performance of male and female elite youth basketball players.

Key words

basketball - countermovement jump - muscle thickness - subcutaneous fat - ultrasound - V-cut

‡ These authors equally contributed to this work




Publication History

Received: 12 September 2022

Accepted: 29 November 2022

Accepted Manuscript online:
29 November 2022

Article published online:
17 March 2023

© 2023. Thieme. All rights reserved.

Georg Thieme Verlag
Rüdigerstraße 14, 70469 Stuttgart, Germany

 

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