The Overhead Squat Test

"Utilizing a tool such as the overhead squat test, along with conventional assessment techniques, will allow the clinician working with athletes to have a better understanding of how their athletes function. Understanding and employing this paradigm will also create a consistent approach to treating musculoskeletal dysfunction in an athletic population."

- Chris Hirth, MS, ATC, PT, PES, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Research has shown that observation of human movement can be used to develop strategies for injury prevention and enhanced athletic performance.  Given this, new research shows that an observation of movement using the Overhead Squat Test may carry the reliability necessary to help clinicians determine the best integrated therapeutic plan to keep athletes in the game.

According to an article published in Athletic Therapy Today (PDF, 412KB), researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill tested the reliability of the Overhead Squat Test as a means of qualitatively assessing an individual’s overall movement patterns. 

Using a group of 20 subjects, photographs of three viewpoints (anterior, lateral, and posterior) of the overhead squat test were examined by a certified athletic trainer with no previous experience in scoring the overhead squat test.  The analyzer was asked to determine if the following movement pattern characteristics were present:

a) toe out,
b) inward knee movement,
c) excessive forward lean,
d) arms fall-forward, and
e) medial longitudinal arch flattening.

With the exception of the toe out movement pattern characteristic, the reliability of analysis (Kappa coefficient values) ranged from .85 to 1.0 for all movement patterns.  The result showed that the Overhead Squat Test is a reliable tool for identifying faulty movement patterns. 

Reference: Hirth, CJ.  Clinical Movement Analysis to identify Muscle Imbalances and Guide Exercise.  ATT 12(4), pp. 10-14.