The effects of mid-flight whole-body and trunk rotation on landing mechanics: implications for anterior cruciate ligament injuries

Landing instructions focused on pelvic and trunk lateral tilt decrease the knee abduction moment during a single-leg drop vertical jump

“…This is the first study to report that landing instructions decrease the peak knee abduction moment during the single-leg landing task. This finding is consistent with those from previous studies that have reported that the increase in trunk lateral tilt or rotation increase the knee abduction moment during landing (Critchley et al, 2020;Dempsey et al, 2012). A previous study on cutting maneuvers reported results that are consistent with those in the present study (Dempsey, Lloyd, Elliott, Steele, & Munro, 2009).…”

“…The findings regarding the knee abduction angle at IC after landing instructions are consistent with those from previous studies that have reported that the increase in intended trunk lateral tilt or rotation increases the knee abduction angle at IC or at the early landing phase (Critchley et al, 2020;Hinshaw et al, 2019). As a result of the decrease in the knee abduction moment, the knee abduction angle was also expected to decrease.…”

“…The peak knee internal rotation angle and moment did not change from pre-to postinstruction in the present study. The increase in intended trunk rotation increased the peak knee internal rotation angle and moment (Critchley et al, 2020). Adding landing instructions focused on pelvic and trunk rotation may help to decrease the internal rotation angle and moment during landing.…”

“…Other studies have reported that a larger trunk lateral tilt toward the stance leg increases the peak knee abduction moment during side-step cutting (Dempsey, Lloyd, Elliott, Steele, Munro, & Russo, 2007;Jamison, Pan, & Chaudhari, 2012). In addition, the increase in intended trunk lateral tilt or rotation during landing increased the knee abduction and internal rotation angles and moments (Critchley et al, 2020;Hinshaw, Davis, Layer, Wilson, Zhu, & Dai, 2019;Saito, Okada, Sasaki, & Wakasa, 2020). However, the effects of the landing instruction to decrease trunk lateral motion on knee kinematics were unclear.…”

The non-sagittal knee moment vector identifies ‘at risk’ individuals that the knee abduction moment alone does not

“…The SLDVJ also showed some between limb differences that were also seen in a separate male dataset (see supplementary material), which warrants further investigation as limb dominance effects remain inconclusive (Dos'Santos et al, 2019). Task specificity is supported by multiple studies in the literature which show a wide range of correlations/differences for knee moments according to the exact nature of the task comparisons made (Critchley et al, 2020;Donohue et al, 2015;Heebner et al, 2017;Jones et al, 2014;Nedergaard et al, 2020;Taylor et al, 2016). Risk classification differences across tasks are also possible (Chinnasee et al, 2018;Kristianslund & Krosshaug, 2013;Sharir et al, 2017).…”