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SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article
Front. Physiol.
Sec. Exercise Physiology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fphys.2025.1551523
Unilateral plyometric training effectively reduces lower limb asymmetry in athletes: A Meta-analysis
Provisionally accepted- 1 Tianjin University of Sport, Tianjin, China
- 2 Qufu Normal University, Qufu, China
- 3 Changshu Riverside Vocational School, Changshu, China
- 4 Yichang City Gezhouba Middle School, Yichang, China
Background: Lower limb asymmetry in athletes is associated with impaired performance and elevated injury risk. Plyometric training (PT) and complex training (CT) are commonly used interventions for this problem, but existing evidence on their effectiveness remains inconsistent. Objective: This meta-analysis aimed to evaluate PT and CT's effects on athletes' lower limb asymmetry. The findings could help optimize training protocols and reduce the risk of sports injuries. Methods: A systematic search of Web of Science, PubMed, ProQuest, Scopus, EBSCO, CNKI, and Wanfang databases was conducted up to March 2024. Two researchers independently performed the literature screening, data extraction, and quality assessment processes. A meta-analysis was conducted via Review Manager 5.3 software, including heterogeneity tests, effect size pooling, subgroup analysis, and funnel plot construction.Results: A total of 8 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) involving 157 participants were included. PT effectively reduced lower limb asymmetry, particularly improving single-leg countermovement jump (SLCMJ) (SMD = 0.51, P = 0.05), single-leg broad jump (SLBJ) (SMD = 0.56, P = 0.01), and single-leg lateral jump (SLLJ) (SMD = 1.24, P = 0.01), but did not affect single-leg horizontal triple jumps (SLH3J) (SMD = 0.24, P = 0.60). In contrast, CT showed no meaningful reduction in asymmetry. Subgroup analysis indicated that unilateral PT alone significantly decreased asymmetry (SMD = 0.71, P < 0.01), whereas bilateral PT (SMD=0.23, P=0.45), unilateral CT (SMD=-0.15, P=0.15) and bilateral CT (SMD=-0.09, P=0.78) interventions all failed to demonstrate efficacy. Conclusion: Unilateral PT effectively reduces lower limb asymmetry in athletes.Coaches should integrate this method into training programs to address asymmetry-related performance deficits and injury risks. Further high-quality trials are required to validate clinical applicability.
Keywords: lower limb asymmetry, Plyometric training, Complex training, Athletes, Meta-analysis
Received: 08 Jan 2025; Accepted: 26 Mar 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Sun, Li, Qu, Zhou, Cao, Wang and Li. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Luping Qu, Qufu Normal University, Qufu, China
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