title: Sidestep cutting maneuvers in female basketball players: stop phase poses greater risk for anterior cruciate ligament injury.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Many non-contact anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries in female basketball players occur during sidestep cutting. The objective of this study was to identify the phases of a sidestep cutting maneuver that place athletes at a greater risk for ACL injuries.
  
  
  METHODS
  Ten healthy female collegiate basketball athletes were asked to perform sidestep cutting movements; the knee flexion and valgus angles as well as the electromyographic activity of the vastus lateral, vastus medial, biceps femoris, and semimembranosus muscles of the non-dominant leg were analyzed during the maneuver.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean knee valgus angle peak tended to be greater during the stop phase than during the side-movement phase. The quadriceps activation during the stop phase was significantly higher than that during the side-movement phase. Moreover, the ratio of hamstring to quadriceps muscle activation during the stop phase was significantly lower than that during the side-movement phase, as assessed by surface electromyography.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Female basketball athletes have a higher risk for ACL injury during the stop phase than during the side-movement phase of the sidestep cutting maneuver.
  
  
  METHODS
  Level III.
authors.affiliation: Department of Sports Rehabilitation, Graduate School of Biomedical & Health Sciences, Hiroshima University, 1-2-3 Kasumi, Minami-Ku, Hiroshima 734-8553, Japan. ditianxie@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Di
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.forename: Yukio
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Urabe
authors.forename: Jyo
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ochiai
authors.forename: Eri
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kobayashi
authors.forename: Noriaki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Maeda
mesh_terms: D000070598:Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injuries; D001490:Basketball / Q000293:injuries*; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D004576:Electromyography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D009068:Movement / Q000502:physiology; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000502:physiology; D012307:Risk Factors