Examination of the Feasibility of a 2-Dimensional Portable Assessment of Knee Joint Stability: A Pilot Study

Abstract

Rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) remains extremely common, with over 250,000 injuries annually. Currently, clinical tests have poor utility to accurately screen for ACL injury risk in athletes. In this study, the position of a knee marker was tracked in 2-dimensional planes to predict biomechanical variables associated with ACL injury risk. Three-dimensional kinematics and ground reaction forces were collected during bilateral, single-leg stop-jump tasks for 44 healthy male military personnel. Knee marker position data were extracted to construct 2-dimensional 95% prediction ellipses in each anatomical plane. Knee marker variables included: ellipse areas, major/minor axes lengths, orientation of ellipse axes, absolute ranges of knee position, and medial knee collapse. These variables were then used as predictor variables in stepwise multiple linear regression analyses for 7 biomechanical variables associated with ACL injury risk. Knee flexion excursion, normalized peak vertical ground reaction forces, and knee flexion angle at initial contact were the response variables that generated the highest adjusted R2 values: .71, .37, and .31, respectively. The results of this study provide initial support for the hypothesis that tracking a single marker during 2-dimensional analysis can accurately reflect the information gathered from 3-dimensional motion analysis during a task assessing knee joint stability.

Force-plate derived predictors of lateral jump performance in NCAA Division-I men’s basketball players

“…The lateral jump distance was measured with a tape measure from the medial edge of the takeoff foot to the medial edge of the landing foot to the nearest 0.01 m. Three-dimensional ground reaction forces were recorded during the takeoff phase at a sampling rate of 1200 Hz using one portable Kistler force plate (9286BA; Kistler Instrument Corp, Novi, MI) and Vicon Nexus Software (version 2.6.1, Vicon, Centennial, CO). Force data was collected until a vertical force threshold below 5% body weight (BW) was reached, signifying takeoff [31,32].…”

“…Jump initiation was defined as the point at which the F z dropped and remained at least 5% below body weight (BW) for the during of the unloading phase [34,35]. Takeoff was defined as the point at which F z fell below 5% BW, thus indicating the subject was no longer in contact with the force plate [31,32].…”