The Landing Error Scoring System Real-Time (LESS-RT) As a Predictive Tool for Overuse Injuries and Ankle Sprain: A Historical Cohort Study.

Abstract

\n Background:Overuse injuries and ankle sprains are commonly sustained by soldiers and athletes during conditioning programs and may have significant ramifications on both individuals and organizations. The Landing Error Scoring System (LESS), and its expedited real-time version (LESS-RT) were developed to assess risk for ACL injuries, but have never been used to assess overuse or ankle injuries which are of high priority in a military or athletic settings. The purpose of this study was to evaluate predictive value of The Landing Error Scoring System Real-Time (LESS-RT) for overuse injuries of the lower limb and ankle sprains among Israel Defense Forces (IDF) combat soldiers.Methods: A historical cohort study was conducted on 2,474 IDF combat soldiers from different service units with a wide range of fitness levels and training requirements. The predictive variable was LESS-RT score and the outcome variables were the incidence of overuse injuries and ankle sprains. Receiver operator characteristic curves were used to assess the predictive value of LESS-RT for both outcomes. Results: The AUC for overuse injuries and ankle sprains were 0.537, 95% CI 0.514-0.560 and 0.523, 95% CI 0.491-0.556 respectively. Conclusions:The results of this study shows no predictive value of LESS-RT score for both overuse injuries of the lower limb and ankle sprains.