Concussion History Moderates Trunk Motion and Lower Extremity Biomechanical Relationships During Jump Landing and Cutting

Abstract

Concussion history, trunk motion, and lower extremity biomechanics associate with musculoskeletal injury risk. We aimed to examine the interaction between concussion history and trunk motion as possible modifiable factors for injury risk biomechanics during jump landing and cutting. Division I female athletes (24 with, 20 without concussion history) performed jump landings and jump-to-cuts at 45° in the opposite direction of the landing limb. We used multiple linear regressions with interaction terms to examine ankle dorsiflexion angle, knee flexion and abduction angle, and external knee flexion and abduction moment. We observed a group by trunk flexion interaction for nondominant external knee flexion moment (P = .042) during jump landing. Concussion history associated with increased external knee flexion moment as trunk flexion increased. We observed a group by trunk flexion interaction for the dominant limb dorsiflexion angle (P = .044), and group by trunk lateral bending interactions for the dominant (P = .039) and nondominant limb (P = .016) external knee flexion moment during cutting. During cutting, concussion history associated with decreased dominant dorsiflexion angles as trunk flexion increased, and decreased dominant and nondominant external knee flexion moment as lateral bending toward the planted limb increased. Concussion history associated with atypical biomechanics as trunk flexion and lateral bending increased.