Lower extremity kinematic coupling during single and double leg landing and gait in female junior athletes with dynamic knee valgus

Abstract

Background Dynamic knee valgus (DKV) is a common lower extremity movement disorder among females. This study aimed to investigate kinematic couplings between lower extremity joints in female junior athletes with DKV during single and double-leg landing and gait. Methods Twenty-six physically active female junior athletes (10–14 years old) with DKV were recruited. Kinematic couplings between rearfoot, tibia, knee, and hip were extracted using eight Vicon motion capture cameras and two force plates. Zero-lag cross-correlation coefficient and vector coding were used to calculate kinematic couplings between joints during physical tasks. Paired t-test and Wilcoxon tests were run to find significant couplings between joint motions and coupling strengths. Bonferroni posthoc was used to determine significance with α ≤ 0.05. Results The results showed that the strongest kinematic relationship existed between rearfoot eversion/inversion and tibial internal/external rotation during all three tasks. Correlations of the rearfoot supination/pronation with tibial rotations, knee, and hip motions in sagittal, frontal, and transverse planes were very strong to strong during double-leg landing and moderate to weak during gait. A weak correlation was observed between rearfoot supination/pronation and hip adduction/abduction during single-leg landing. Conclusions Coupling relationships between rearfoot, knee, and hip vary by the task intensity and alignment profiles in female juniors with DKV.

Influence of Ankle-Foot Orthoses and Ankle-Foot Joint Immobility on Gait Stability

“…Due to the uniqueness of human walking posture, this action is completed with the combination of various rotations of the lower limb joints. Thus, the interrelationship between the joints is crucial [28]. The results of the correlation coefficient analysis of lower extremity joint angles and moments, with a wide range of moderate to high degrees of correlation between the joint movements, also validate this opinion.…”

Dual Task Reduces Balance Score but not Joint Repositioning Error in Female Athletes with Dynamic Knee Valgus

“…Excessive medial knee displacement during dynamic movements due to neuromuscular inefficiency has been identified as a central risk factor for ACL injuries in high-risk sports such as handball, volleyball, basketball, and soccer (14). It seems that DKV is controllable and preventable, and activation of core muscles, strength of hip external rotators and abductors, and neuromuscular control play a major role in this regard (15,16). A dual task often entails performing a primary activity while doing a secondary task (17).…”