The relationships among sagittal-plane lower extremity moments: implications for landing strategy in anterior cruciate ligament injury prevention.
BACKGROUND
Excessive quadriceps contraction with insufficient hamstrings muscle cocontraction has been shown to be a possible contributing factor for noncontact anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries. Assessing the relationships among lower extremity internal moments may provide some insight into avoiding muscle contraction patterns that increase ACL injury risk.


OBJECTIVE
To examine the relationships of knee-extensor moment with ankle plantar-flexor and hip-extensor moments and to examine the relationship between knee moment and center of pressure as a measure of neuromuscular response to center-of-mass position.


METHODS
Cross-sectional study.


METHODS
Applied Neuromechanics Research Laboratory.


METHODS
Eighteen healthy, recreationally active women (age = 22.3 +/- 2.8 years, height = 162.5 +/- 8.1 cm, mass = 57.8 +/- 9.3 kg).


METHODS
Participants performed a single-leg landing from a 45-cm box onto a force plate. Kinetic and kinematic data were collected.


METHODS
Pearson product moment correlation coefficients were calculated among the net peak knee-extensor moment (KEMpk), sagittal-plane ankle (AM) and hip (HM) net internal moments, and anterior-posterior center of pressure relative to foot center of mass at KEMpk (COP).


RESULTS
Lower KEMpk related to both greater AM (r = -0.942, P < .001) and HM (r = -0.657, P = .003). We also found that more anterior displacement of COP was related to greater AM (r = -0.750, P < .001) and lower KEMpk (r = 0.618, P = .006).


CONCLUSIONS
Our results suggest that participants who lean the whole body forward during landing may produce more plantar-flexor moment and less knee-extensor moment, possibly increasing hip-extensor moment and decreasing knee-extensor moment production. These results suggest that leaning forward may be a technique to decrease quadriceps contraction demand while increasing hamstrings cocontraction demand during a single-leg landing.
Shimokochi
Yohei
Y
Osaka University of Health and Sport Sciences, Osaka, Japan. yshimoko@ouhs.ac.jp
Yong Lee
Sae
S
Shultz
Sandra J
SJ
Schmitz
Randy J
RJ
D000328:Adult; D000070598:Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injuries; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007718:Knee Injuries / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D009119:Muscle Contraction / Q000502:physiology*; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000502:physiology*; D011187:Posture; D052097:Quadriceps Muscle / Q000502:physiology*; D012307:Risk Factors; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D013848:Thigh; D055815:Young Adult