Sport-dependent variations in arm position during single-limb landing influence knee loading: implications for anterior cruciate ligament injury.
BACKGROUND
Increased valgus loading at the knee has been previously identified as a possible risk factor for noncontact anterior cruciate ligament injuries, which are common in sports. Arm position variation may affect risk of injury by altering valgus knee loading.


OBJECTIVE
Sport-dependent variations in arm position increase valgus loading of the knee during run-to-cut maneuvers.


METHODS
Controlled laboratory study.


METHODS
Eleven subjects performed a sidestep cutting maneuver, first with no arm constraints and then with 3 sports-related arm positions in random order (holding a lacrosse stick, holding a football on the plant side, and holding a football on the cut side). The analysis focused on the knee valgus moment relative to the arm positions during the landing phase of the activity.


RESULTS
Arm position significantly influenced the valgus moment with an increase in the lacrosse trials and in the plant-side football trials but not in the cut-side football trials (alpha = .05).


CONCLUSIONS
Constraining the plant-side arm results in increased valgus loading at the knee during run-to-cut maneuvers, which suggests the possibility of greater risk of anterior cruciate ligament injury during these conditions.


CONCLUSIONS
These results suggest that training methods that consider arm position as a risk factor could help reduce the risk of anterior cruciate ligament noncontact injury.
Chaudhari
Ajit M
AM
Stanford Biomotion Laboratory, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305-4038, USA. ajit.chaudhari@stanford.edu
Hearn
Brenna K
BK
Andriacchi
Thomas P
TP
D000328:Adult; D000070598:Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injuries; D001132:Arm; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D005260:Female; D005538:Football; D006801:Humans; D007717:Knee / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D015865:Racquet Sports; D012420:Running; D013177:Sports; D014481:United States; D016474:Weight-Bearing / Q000502:physiology*