Effect Of Footwear On Lower Extremity Secondary Plane Movements During A Soccer Specific Jumping Task

Abstract

PURPOSE: The purpose of the study was to examine the effect of different types of footwear (running, turf, and bladed cleat) on lower extremity landing mechanics in the secondary planes of motion. Due to the increased rigidity of the bladed cleat, it was hypothesized that the bladed cleat condition would result in increased joint moments and increased peak joint angles compared to the running and turf shoe conditions. METHODS: Fourteen male and fourteen female recreational soccer players were selected for the study. Subjects underwent a movement analysis while performing a controlled jump heading activity in the three different footwear conditions. The jump heading activity consisted of the subject jumping forward from a standing position half of their body height behind the 2 force plates, landing on the force plates covered with artificial turf with both feet and then jumping up to head a ball that was suspended at half the subject's maximum jump height above the front of force plates, and landing back on the force plates. The footwear testing order was randomized for each subject. Peak knee and hip joint moments and angles in the frontal and transverse plane were examined from initial contact with the force plates until the subject left the force plates to head the ball. Due to suggested differences in male and female landing mechanics, a two-way ANOVA (gender x footwear) was utilized to analyze the data with a critical p-value established at 0.05. RESULTS: No interactions were observed for any variables. Independent of shoe condition, females exhibited a greater peak knee external rotation angle and a greater peak hip adduction angle compared to the male subjects, while males exhibited a greater peak ankle inversion moment than the females. Independent of gender, wearing the turf shoe resulted in a significantly greater ankle inversion moment compared to the running shoe. CONCLUSIONS: Contrary to the hypothesis, the rigid bladed shoe did not increase moments or angles when compared to the turf or running shoe conditions. Therefore, footwear does not appear to effect landing mechanics in preparation for a jump heading task. However, it may be appropriate to assess changes in landing mechanics during different landing conditions to thoroughly examine the role that footwear may play in altering injury risk during jump landings.