Functional performance tests (FPT) are used clinically to identify female collegiate athletes at risk for injury, facilitate training, guide rehabilitation interventions, and assist in return-to-play determination. Using FPT to identify athletes at risk for injury may help sports medicine clinicians reduce injury risk via training programs targeting deficits. Assessing the efficacy of using FPT, which evaluates core muscular endurance, is warranted. Muscular endurance is the ability of the participant to continue contracting a muscle or group of muscles to hold a particular starting position. Preliminary evidence shows associations between preseason FPT for measuring core muscular endurance and injury. However, additional research is warranted to either validate initial findings or to address limitations discussed in prior studies. Inconsistencies in testing protocols have been reported for some FPT that assess core muscular endurance. These inconsistencies include how pelvic neutrality is determined and the number of attempts allowed to reestablish neutrality during testing. Instrumented devices provide objective data regarding the pelvic neutral starting position and test termination, which may help overcome the limitations associated with relying solely on subjective measurements. The first purpose of this study was to establish the reliability of measuring core muscular endurance of the unilateral hip bridge endurance test (UHBET) and the prone plank endurance test (PPET) using instrumented devices designed to monitor pelvic neutrality. The study aimed to determine the intra and interrater reliability and the minimum detectable change for the UHBET utilizing a digital inclinometer and the PPET using the prone plank measuring device (PPMD) in both homogeneous and heterogeneous groups of female collegiate athletes. The second purpose of the study was to evaluate the ability of the two FPT to discriminate injury risk in a cohort of female collegiate athletes. The third purpose of this study was to report descriptive scores for each FPT and to compare scores between various levels of competition and sports.
