# Plantar Pressure Evaluation during the Season in Five Basketball Movements
## 1 Introduction  
In recent years, sports have become important in society, and basketball is no exception. Taking into consideration both the professional players and those who play for leisure, the number of basketball players in recent years has increased significantly. With this rise in popularity, competitiveness and intensity during training and games have also increased, and this can mean a higher possibility of getting injured. In basketball, the body parts with a greater risk of getting injured are the lower limbs, especially in female athletes [1]. According to [PERSON] et al. [2], ankle injuries were one of the most frequent injuries in basketball players, and [PERSON] et al. [3] concluded that female athletes suffer greater rates of injury compared with male athletes. As basketball is an intermittent sport, with long periods of moderate and recovery activity, there is a great propensity for injuries [4]. Hence, to avoid serious injuries in women's basketball, the intensity and frequency of training need to follow the chronological and biological age of each player [5]. [PERSON] et al. [6] concluded that plantar pressuremeasurements are important for diagnosing lower limb problems, sports biomechanics, and injury prevention. Plantar pressure is not only used in sports but is also used to follow pathological conditions, for instance, in diabetes, to evaluate plantar ulcer prediction [7; 8; 9]. Plantar pressure assessment may also be useful to optimize basketball footwear designs, orthosis use, or training strategies to reduce injuries during a basketball game [10]. According to [PERSON] et al. [11], the human body comes into contact with the floor via the landing surface, and that means the lower limbs have a further likelihood of getting injured in high-contact sports, like basketball. Basketball is considered a sport of quick changes in velocity and intensity, and, for females, the rate of injuries per 1000 athlete exposures in the game is 4.2 and in practice is 2.24, with an overall rate of injury of 2.86 per 1000 athlete exposures [12]. The list of technical and tactical arguments that can be used by a basketball player is extensive [13]. Using the plantar pressure measurement to relate foot pressure and the biomechanics function of the lower limbs to the increased training sessions along the season [14], it can be seen that the athletes' shoes begin to deteriorate, which can influence the athletes' performance [15]. This evaluation helps us to understand foot injuries, especially in people with pathological problems like Parkinson's, diabetes, and rheumatic arthritis, and we can also identify the areas of the foot that are most susceptible to skin injuries [16; 17; 18; 19; 20; 21]. Plantar pressure may be evaluated by several methods; one of them is shoe systems, which are more flexible than other methods like pressure distribution platforms and are positioned inside the shoes, allowing for a better adjustment to the athlete [22; 23]. Usually, the parameters of interest when evaluating plantar pressure are peak pressure (PP; considered the maximum plantar pressure), pressure time integral (PTI; commonly defined as the area under the peak pressure-time curve), and mean peak pressure (mPP) [15; 24; 25; 26; 27]. Nevertheless, [PERSON] and [PERSON] [27] and [PERSON] et al. [28] have concluded that mPP and PTI values are highly interdependent, and it is not necessary to evaluate both. This study aims to evaluate plantar pressure in five different basketball movements--four with running and only one without running--and compare them at two different moments of the sports season: at the beginning and at the peak of the competition season. It also aims to verify if the athletes' level of experience could influence the mean peak plantar pressure. To assess the effect of the athletes' experience level, they were divided into two groups: one included the least experienced players and the other the most experienced, according to the number of games played.