Comparisons of knee and ankle joint angles and ground reaction force according to functional differences during single-leg drop landing

Abstract

[Purpose] The purpose of this study was to determine potential predictors of functional instability of the knee and ankle joints during single-leg drop landing based on the prior history of injury. [Subjects and Methods] The subjects were 24 collegiate soccer players without pain or dysfunction. To compare the differences between the stable and unstable sides during single-leg drop landing, 8 motion analysis cameras and a force plate were used. The Cortex 4 software was used for a biomechanical analysis of 3 events. An independent t-test was used for statistical comparison between both sides; p<0.05 indicated significance. [Results] The knee joint movements showed gradual flexion in the sagittal plane. The unstable-side ankle joint showed plantar flexion of approximately 2° relative to the stable side. In the coronal plane, the unstable-side knee joint differed from the stable side in its tendency for valgus movement. The unstable-side ankle joint showed contrasting movement compared with the stable side, and the difference was significant. Regarding the vertical ground reaction force, the stable side showed maximum knee flexion that was approximately 0.1 BW lower than that of the unstable side. [Conclusion] Increasing the flexion angle of the knee joint can help prevent injury during landing.

Changes in Lower-Limb Biomechanics, Soft Tissue Vibrations, and Muscle Activation During Unanticipated Bipedal Landings

“…Muscle pre-activation during the flight phase of landing was used to indicate a continuous build-up of muscle force occurring before the touchdown to (1) form initial stiffness of the contractile component, which enables the use of elastic energy from muscle-tendon structures in conjunction with the muscle contractile property, and (2) provide adequate deceleration of joint flexion during dynamic activities, which may be a mechanism acting to protect the musculoskeletal system from injury (Vladimir et al, 2008). As expected, our findings showed that the significantly decreased pre-activation EMG in UDL led to a stiff landing, with the hip and knee joints showing significantly lower flexion at the touchdown phase, lower changes in the joint angle, and relatively higher leg stiffness, which caused greater impact of ground reaction force compared with ADJ (Kim and Jeon, 2016).…”

“…In the present study, the landing strategy was the main factor affecting the ground reaction force without considering the test environments. Thus, stiff landings caused a greater ground reaction force than soft landings (Kim and Jeon, 2016). Moreover, soft and stiff landings had relatively large and small amounts of knee flexion, respectively, during the floor contact phase.…”

Validation of a Device to Measure Knee Joint Angles for a Dynamic Movement

“…Traditionally, lower limb joint kinematics have been evaluated under laboratory settings using camera-based motion capture systems [16][17][18]. However, this method cannot be used to track movements in the field.…”

Muscle activation pattern of gluteus medius, tibialis anterior and peroneus longus during drop landing on different surfaces: a cross-sectional study

“…3,5 Improved muscle activation can provide stability, thus decreasing the risk for injury to occur during landing. 6,8,[18][19][20][21] There is a relationship between the proximal and distal joints of our lower extremity. 16,17 Following the kinetic linking, ankle invertors, evertors, and GMeds are responsible for movements and stability in the frontal plane of the ankle joint.…”