Correlation of Kinematics and Kinetics of Changing Sagittal Plane Body Position during Landing and the Risk of Non-Contact Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury

Mahgolzahra Kamari,Takuya Yoshida,Satoru Tanigawa,Seita Kuki,Randeep Rakwal

doi:10.3390/app11177773

Abstract

Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury is one of the most common knee injuries that negatively affect athletes’ future performance and return to play. The purpose of this study was to examine the correlation of kinematics and kinetics of changing sagittal plane body position during landing and the risk of non-contact ACL injury. Seven university female (age 19.57 ± 0.79 y, height 164.21 ± 8.11 m, weight 60.43 ± 5.99 kg) athletes playing soccer and handball, and with ≥ two years of training volunteered for this research. Three trunk positions: Lean Forward Landing (LFL), Self-selected Landing (SSL), and Upright Landing (URL)—via double/single-leg landing—were captured by a high-speed VICON motion capture system. A 3 × 2 two-way within-subjects ANOVA and Multiple Bonferroni corrected pairwise were used to test for condition (LFL, SSL, URL) and task (single/double-leg) effects (p≤ 0.05). The findings indicated that landing with a deeper knee flexion angle (LFL) would lead to smaller impact forces when compared to upright landing.

Highlights

Our results showed that the greatest peak knee extensor moment occurred during single-leg landing with the upright landing (URL) trunk position and the smallest peak knee extensor moment occurred during single-leg landing with the Lean Forward Landing (LFL) trunk position
This study suggests that leaning forward while landing (LFL) appears to protect the Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) by increasing the shock absorption capacity and knee flexion angles and decreasing anterior shear force due to the knee joint compression force
Upright landing (URL) appears to be harmful to the ACL by increasing the post-impact force of landing while decreasing knee flexion angles, all of which lead to a greater tibial anterior shear force and ACL loading

Summary

Introduction

Research efforts over the years have found that a majority of the injuries among female athletes were found in lower extremities such as the ankle and the knee [3,4]. The Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) is the site of the most serious and common knee injuries, and has been studied in many different ways, especially over the past few years, due to the increased number of participating athletes in research studies [5]. The knee joint is the common site of injury only second to the ankle [6], and in terms of severity, the rupture of the ACL can often cause critical loss of maximum performance for athletes [6,7,8]

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Discussion

Conclusion