Gender differences in intra-limb coordination during single limb landings on dominant and non-dominant legs

Abstract

This study investigated the effects of gender and landing limb on intra-limb coordination during single limb drop landings. Fourteen females and eight males performed drop landings while lower limb kinematics were recorded in the sagittal plane. Discrete relative phase (DRP) and standard deviation of DRP were calculated for hip-knee, knee ankle and hip-ankle joint couplings. Mixed between-within ANOVA showed no significant gender effects for DRP of joint couplings (p > 0.05). Females showed significantly greater standard deviation of DRP for the hip-knee (p = 0.03) and hip-ankle (p = 0.04) joint couplings. There were no significant effects for limb in DRP of joint couplings (p > 0.05). Knee-angle standard deviation of DRP was significantly greater for the dominant limb compared to the non-dominant limb (p = 0.04). These findings suggest males and females adopt similar intra-limb coordination strategies when landing, however, females exhibit greater variability in coordination which may indicate greater adaptation in coordination patterns in an attempt to mitigate the effects of fatigue or compensate for gender differences in landing kinematics and kinetics identified in previous research.