Is there a relationship between landing, cutting, and pivoting tasks in terms of the characteristics of dynamic valgus?

BACKGROUND

Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries are a major problem among female athletes. Screening for the risk of ACL injuries tends to focus on landing tasks, which may be limited in sports where changing direction is the main action involved in noncontact ACL injuries such as soccer.

PURPOSE: To investigate whether there is a relationship between single-legged landing (SLL), cutting (90° cuts), and pivoting (180° turns) in terms of the characteristics of dynamic valgus.

STUDY

DESIGN

Controlled laboratory study.

METHODS

Twenty female soccer players (mean ± SD: age, 21.0 ± 3.9 years; height, 1.65 ± 0.08 m; mass, 58.4 ± 6.4 kg) performed a minimum of 6 trials of SLL from a 0.3-m drop height and cutting and pivoting all on the right leg. Kinematics and kinetics were calculated from 3-dimensional motion analysis.

RESULTS

Strong correlations were found for peak knee abduction angles between tasks (R = 0.63-0.86, P < .01), whereas only moderate correlations between SLL and cutting (R = 0.46, P < .05), cutting and pivoting (R = 0.56, P < .05), and SLL and pivoting (R = 0.43, P > .05) were found between tasks for peak knee abduction moments.

CONCLUSION

The results suggest that female athletes who exhibit poor SLL mechanics perform the same during various changing direction tasks.

CLINICAL RELEVANCE: The results support the use of existing screening tests that involve landing tasks to identify at-risk athletes for noncontact ACL injuries.