Single Leg Hop Test For Distance
Feb 15, 2018What Are Hop Tests?
Hop Tests are a series of tests that are done at a high intensity and are commonly used by health and fitness professionals to assess the power of their clients. Hop tests are also commonly used in the later stages of ACL rehabilitation and the test results will determine if patients are ready to return to sport or not.
The types of single-leg hops include:
- Single leg hop test
- Single leg triple hop test
- Single crossover hop test (crossing over a line with every jump).
- Timed single leg hop over 6m
- Side hop test
How To Perform A Single Leg Hop Test For Distance
Using The MAT or Hop MAT, the assessor asks their patient or client to stand on one leg with their foot up against the start of the measurement line.
On the assessor's cue the client hops as far as they can on one leg, controlling the landing for a minimum of 2 seconds.
An average distance is measured from the closest point of the foot to the start line for a minimum of 3 attempts.
Why Use Single Leg Hop Tests?
In a clinical setting hop tests are extremely useful for identifying “isokinetic flexion strength deficits and flexion-to-extension ratios” ( Sueyoshi T, Nakahata A, Emoto G, Yuasa T, 2017) for individuals looking to return to their chosen sport. They also found that “hop tests are useful tools for a bilateral comparison of knee strength and function when returning athletes to their sport” (Sueyoshi et al.).
The Hop tests are used in conjunction with the Limb Symmetry Index (LSI) to compare from side to side.
An article by Lapley (2015) showed that “Less than 85% via the Limb Symmetry Index (LSI) in knee extension strength is considered poor and warrants further rehabilitation (Lepley, 2015)”. Knee extension is primarily produced from the quadriceps muscle group, which goes through changes post ACL surgery.
Hop tests also give an idea of the bigger picture of whether an individual is able to return to a sport that requires jumping, cutting as well as needing to stop/start quickly. We recommend being at least 90%+ before returning to sport at MAT.
Research by Myers et al 2014 found normal values of:
- 192cm for Male College Athletes
- 149cm for Female College Athletes
- 181cm for Male High School Athletes
- 129cm for Female High School Athletes
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