Kinetic analysis of landings in netball: is a footwork rule change required to decrease ACL injuries?

The purpose of the study was to investigate landings in netball to ascertain whether or not an extra step on landing would significantly alter the forces on the body and to investigate the landings that were least stressful on the body. Eighteen State or Under 21 netball players participated as subjects. The subjects performed five different landing conditions at two pass heights. The five landing conditions were three legal landings consisting of a pivot, a run-on and a two foot landing. The other two landings used an extra step technique for the pivot and run-on landings. Data were collected using two force plates. The data were analysed using an ANCOVA, with approach speed as the covariate. The range of values for peak vertical ground reaction force were from 3.53 to 5.74 BW and for peak braking force the range was from 0.83 to 1.75 BW. No significant differences were found between each respective legal and extra step techniques. The run-on techniques exhibited lower peak forces, longer attenuation times and lower loading rates than the pivot or two foot landing conditions. The data clearly showed that there were no advantages to be gained from taking an extra step for either the pivot or run-on landing techniques. The run-on technique of landing appears to be most beneficial to reducing loads on the lower limb. A change to the footwork rules cannot be recommended based on the results of this study.