Effects of prophylactic knee bracing on knee joint kinetics and kinematics during single- and double-limb post-catch deceleration strategies in university netballers

Abstract

The aim of the current investigation was to investigate the effects of a prophylactic knee brace on knee joint kinetics and kinematics during single- and double-limb deceleration tasks. Twenty female university first team-level netballers performed single- and double-limb deceleration tasks under two conditions (prophylactic knee brace/no-brace). Biomechanical data were captured using an eight-camera 3D motion capture system and a force platform. Participants also subjectively rated the comfort/stability properties of the brace, and their knee joint proprioception was examined with and without the knee brace using a weight-bearing joint position sense test. The results showed that during both single- and double-limb deceleration tasks, neither peak anterior cruciate ligament [brace: single = 1.30/double = 1.30 bodyweight (BW) and no-brace: single = 1.19/double = 1.29 BW] P = 0.51, patellofemoral (brace: single = 4.21/double = 4.93 BW and no-brace: single = 3.99/double = 4.63 BW) P = 0.20, nor patellar tendon (brace: single = 6.17/double = 6.49 BW and no-brace: single = 6.07/double = 6.14 BW) P = 0.49 kinetics were significantly affected as a function of wearing the knee brace. The findings also showed that the knee brace helped to increase participants’ perceived knee stability (P < 0.001), but there were no statistical improvements in weight-bearing knee proprioception (brace = 3.59 and no-brace = 2.94°) P = 0.44. The current investigation indicates that the utilization of prophylactic knee-bracing akin to the device used in the current study does not appear to reduce the biomechanical parameters linked to the aetiology of knee injuries during netball-specific deceleration movements.