Is basketball a symmetrical sport?

Abstract

Basketball, an intermittent sport with a high impact load, presents a strong probability of lower limb injuries. These injuries can be caused by poor quantification of loads, very intense training sessions or even asymmetries in the lower extremities. The main aim of the present study is to identify whether asymmetries exist in basketball. Specifically, asymmetries depending on: (i) type of task, (ii) type of game situation, (iii) specific positions while training and (iv) specific positions while competing. It is hypothesized that there will be no significant differences between the different conditions. For this purpose, all the training sessions and matches of a professional basketball team belonging to the First Spanish Division were monitored during the preseason. WIMU PRO™ inertial devices were used for data collection. The statistical analysis compared the different cases with an ANOVA test. The results do not show significant differences in the values collected among the type of task, the game situation and the positions of the individual players. It can be concluded that basketball is a symmetrical sport. Despite this, the coaching staff should carefully monitor the training loads and asymmetries of the players to avoid the risk of injury.