Multidirectional Landing Kinetics, Stabilisation Times, and Associated Isokinetic Knee Torques of High-Level Female Netball Players

Abstract

Netball is a multidirectional sport afflicted by a relatively high proportion of lower-extremity injuries. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationships between multidirectional landing stabilisation times, unilateral landing kinetics, and isokinetic knee joint torques in elite female netball players. A total of 15 players volunteered for the study (age: 20.80 ± 1.42 years; height: 1.75 ± 0.06 m; body mass: 71.69 ± 13.58 kg). All players completed a minimum of 25 multidirectional, unilateral landing tasks, as well as isokinetic dynamometry, to evaluate both concentric and eccentric knee flexion and extension torques. Players showed rapid stabilisation times upon landing (2.02 ± 0.69 s) coupled with moderately high landing forces (4.06 ± 0.82 BWs) and comparatively low isokinetic knee extensor (2.01 ± 0.49 N·m·kg−1) and flexor (1.33 ± 0.30 N·m·kg−1) strength. Moderate positive (r¯ = 0.61) and negative (r¯ = −0.63) correlations were observed between peak isokinetic knee joint strength and the force–time waveform during the early and late weight-acceptance phases of multidirectional jump landings prior to stabilisation. Multidirectional landing kinetics can potentially provide valuable insights related to TTS and possible associations with isolated knee joint musculature during the weight-acceptance phase of jump landings.