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. 2009 Jun;43(6):417-22.
doi: 10.1136/bjsm.2009.059162. Epub 2009 Apr 15.

Video analysis of trunk and knee motion during non-contact anterior cruciate ligament injury in female athletes: lateral trunk and knee abduction motion are combined components of the injury mechanism

T E Hewett  1 , J S Torg, B P Boden
Affiliations

Video analysis of trunk and knee motion during non-contact anterior cruciate ligament injury in female athletes: lateral trunk and knee abduction motion are combined components of the injury mechanism

T E Hewett et al. Br J Sports Med. 2009 Jun.

Abstract

Background: The combined positioning of the trunk and knee in the coronal and sagittal planes during non-contact anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury has not been previously reported.

Hypothesis: During ACL injury female athletes demonstrate greater lateral trunk and knee abduction angles than ACL-injured male athletes and uninjured female athletes.

Design: Cross-section control-cohort design.

Methods: Analyses of still captures from 23 coronal (10 female and 7 male ACL-injured players and 6 female controls) or 28 sagittal plane videos performing similar landing and cutting tasks. Significance was set at p < or = 0.05.

Results: Lateral trunk and knee abduction angles were higher in female compared to male athletes during ACL injury (p < or = 0.05) and trended toward being greater than female controls (p = 0.16, 0.13, respectively). Female ACL-injured athletes showed less forward trunk lean than female controls (mean (SD) initial contact (IC): 1.6 (9.3) degrees vs 14.0 (7.3) degrees, p < or = 0.01).

Conclusion: Female athletes landed with greater lateral trunk motion and knee abduction during ACL injury than did male athletes or control females during similar landing and cutting tasks.

Clinical relevance: Lateral trunk and knee abduction motion are important components of the ACL injury mechanism in female athletes as observed from video evidence of ACL injury.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: None.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Still image of a female anterior cruciate ligament (ACL)-injured subject during injury (front player, no. 22) relative to a control player (behind her), demonstrating the association between lateral trunk motion and medial knee collapse in the injured subject, but not the control player (obscured view, not analysed). This is frame 1 (initial foot contact with ground) of the subject (no. 22) landing and shows the calculated angles and the combined lateral trunk motion and knee abduction.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Still image with coronal angles a male subject demonstrating the absence of an association between lateral trunk motion and medial knee collapse during anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Coronal plane trunk angles (mean (standard error of the mean (SEM))) in female and male anterior cruciate ligament (ACL)-injured subjects and female controls.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Coronal plane knee abduction angles (mean (standard error of the mean (SEM))) in female and male anterior cruciate ligament (ACL)-injured subjects and female controls.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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