The relationship between static posture and ACL injury in female athletes

Abstract

Female participation in athletics has increased dramatically over the last decade. Accompanying the increase in participation in sports is the increase incidence of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury. The purpose of this study was to examine the correlation between static postural faults in female athletes and the prevalence of noncontact ACL injury. Twenty ACL-injured females and 20 age-matched controls were evaluated. Seven variables were measured: standing pelvic position, hip position, standing sagittal knee position, standing frontal knee position, hamstring length, prone subtalar joint position, and navicular drop test. A conditional step-wise logistic regression analysis revealed the factors of knee recurvatum, an excessive navicular drop, and excessive subtalar joint pronation to be significant discriminators between the ACL-injured and noninjured groups. These findings may have implications regarding rehabilitation techniques in physical therapy.