Lower limb muscle activity and kinematics of an unanticipated cutting manoeuvre: a gender comparison

Abstract

This investigation compared the amplitude and the timing of the muscle activity of the lower limb, as well as the three-dimensional kinematics of the hip, knee and ankle joints, of male and female elite soccer players performing an unanticipated cutting manoeuvre. These data were recorded for 15 female and 15 male participants for five successful cutting manoeuvres. For this manoeuvre to be performed in an unanticipated manner, the participants were instructed to execute one of three tasks, which were signalled to them with a target board composed of three different coloured lights. Female participants performed the cutting manoeuvre with greater lateral gastrocnemius activity in comparison with the male participants. It was also observed that they contracted their vastus lateralis to a greater extent than their vastus medialis, whereas the men adopted the opposite strategy. These neuromuscular control strategies adopted by the female athletes may elucidate the reasons for which women struck the ground with a more abducted knee during the cutting task. Given that this knee position places greater strain on the anterior cruciate ligament, a restoration of the medial/lateral activation balance of the lower limb muscles may reduce one's risk of injury.

Anticipatory Effects on Lower Extremity Neuromechanics During a Cutting Task

“…9,14,17,18 In addition, other kinematic factors, such as smaller hip and knee sagittalplane angles along with greater frontal-plane angles and ranges of motion, have been identified as components of an at-risk movement pattern. 7,11,14,17,18 This movement pattern has also been evident during direct observations of ACL injuries using video analysis of in-game footage and as part of a prospective investigation of ACL injury risk. 6,19,20 Many of the biomechanical studies 8,11,13,21,22 that investigated landing mechanics and movement patterns used experimental models in which participants completed preplanned movement tasks (eg, cutting or landing or both) with an anticipated or known direction of movement.…”

“…2,5 To develop clinical interventions that aim to prevent injuries, research efforts have been directed at determining how biomechanical and neuromuscular risk factors manifest within the ACL injury mechanism. [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16] Most authors 9,14,17,18 who investigated these risk factors and their role in the ACL injury mechanism focused on kinetic and kinematic variables measured during landing and cutting tasks. These results suggest that deleterious knee kinetics are characterized by greater external-flexion, abduction, and internal-rotation moments.…”

“…Researchers, therefore, try to mimic the uncertainty of these conditions by having participants perform tasks without knowing which direction to move in before they actually initiate the movement. 7,9,12,14,15,17,18,23,24 It is interesting, however, that direct comparisons between lower extremity mechanics performed under anticipated and unanticipated conditions have not been conducted as often as comparisons between groups that performed only unanticipated conditions. Yet, analyzing biomechanical and neuromuscular variables under either condition alone may not provide sufficient information about the neuromechanical strategies that athletes adopt when faced with situations that more closely resemble the dynamic athletic environment.…”

The Incidence and Prevalence of Ankle Sprain Injury: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Prospective Epidemiological Studies

“…Efforts to prevent ankle sprain injury in females should therefore focus on the factors that increase the susceptibility of women to injury and furthermore to develop interventions to facilitate the prevention of these injuries. The anatomical (195)(196)(197), hormonal (197)(198)(199) figure 3) is a significant finding, as injury at a young age can negatively affect a child's ability to participate in activity and may trigger long-term sequelae such as early onset of osteoarthritis (203) (204). None of the included studies surveyed a sample of children, adolescents and adults giving specific data relating to exposure and number of ankle sprains for each distinct age group.…”

Muscle Synergies During a Single-Leg Drop-Landing in Boys and Girls

“…3,5 Among neuromechanical factors that are thought to contribute to ACL injury, muscle activation patterns have been implicated to play a major role because they are responsible for the dynamic control of joint stability during athletic tasks and thus may influence the joint loading environment. Although a number of studies have focused on the role of muscle activation and co-activation patterns during landing in adults, [6][7][8][9][10][11] only a handful of studies have examined sex differences among these patterns in adolescents or pre-adolescents. [12][13][14][15][16][17] It is of practical importance to study differences in muscle activation patterns between boys and girls before puberty so as to provide clues about the onset of the differences observed in adulthood.…”