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Anterior cruciate ligament reconstructed females who pass or fail a functional test battery do not exhibit differences in knee joint landing biomechanics asymmetry before and after exercise

  • Knee
  • Published:
Knee Surgery, Sports Traumatology, Arthroscopy Aims and scope

Abstract

Purpose

A functional test battery (FTB) has been proposed to evaluate the readiness of return to activity after ACLR. However, there is limited evidence documenting the usefulness of an FTB. Therefore, the purpose of the current investigation was to compare knee joint landing biomechanics asymmetry during double-leg jump landing (DLJL) and single-leg jump cutting (SLJC) between healthy females and ACLR females who pass (ACLR-pass) or fail (ACLR-fail) an FTB before and after the completion of a sustained exercise protocol.

Method

Eighteen ACLR females (ten ACLR-pass and eight ACLR-fail) and twelve healthy females performed an FTB including The 2000 International Knee Documentation Committee Subjective Knee Evaluation Form, the Knee Outcome Survey Activities of Daily Living Scale, quadriceps strength, and single-leg hop tests. DLJL and SLJC knee joint biomechanics asymmetry were measured before and after exercise.

Results

During DLJL, there were significant main effects of group on peak anterior tibial shear force (ATSF) asymmetry [F(2,27) = 3.86, p < 0.05, \(\eta_{{\text{p}}}^{2}\) = 0.214] and peak vertical ground reaction force (vGRF) asymmetry [F(2,27) = 3.34, p = 0.05, \(\eta_{{\text{p}}}^{2}\) = 0.198]. During SLJC, there was a significant group main effect for peak ATSF asymmetry [F(2,27) = 3.494, p = 0.04, \(\eta_{{\text{p}}}^{2}\) = 0.206].

Conclusion

ACLR-fail exhibited greater asymmetry in peak ATSF during DLJL and SLJC compared to healthy females. In addition, ACLR-pass exhibited greater asymmetry in peak ATSF and peak vGRF during DLJL and SLJC, respectively, compared to healthy females. However, ACLR-fail did not exhibit any significant differences in landing biomechanics asymmetry during either task compared with ACLR-pass. Furthermore, the completion of a sustained exercise protocol did not affect knee joint landing biomechanics asymmetry across groups.

Level of evidence

II.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Kinesiology, School of Art and Sport, Inha University, 5W555B, 100 Inha-ro, Michuhol-gu, Incheon, 22212, South Korea

    Eunwook Chang

  2. Kinesiology Program, School of Biological and Population Health Sciences, College of Public Health and Human Sciences, Oregon State University, 160 SW 26th St, Corvallis, OR, 97331, USA

    Samuel T. Johnson, Mark A. Hoffman & Marc F. Norcross

  3. Kinesiology Program, School of Biological and Population Health Sciences, College of Public Health and Human Sciences, Oregon State University-Cascades, 1500 SW Chandler Ave, Bend, OR, 97701, USA

    Christine D. Pollard

Authors
  1. Eunwook Chang
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  2. Samuel T. Johnson
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  3. Christine D. Pollard
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  4. Mark A. Hoffman
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  5. Marc F. Norcross
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Contributions

EWC participated in study design, data collection, controlling exercise protocol, data analysis, and manuscript preparation. STJ participated in study design, data analysis collection, and manuscript preparation. CDP and MAH participated in study design and manuscript preparation. MFN participated in study design, data analysis, and manuscript preparation.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Eunwook Chang.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

Ethical approval for the present study was obtained from the Oregon State University Institutional Review Board (Study ID: 7000).

Funding

This study was supported by the National Athletic Trainers’ Association Research & Education Foundation Doctoral Grant Program (no. 15DGP003).

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Chang, E., Johnson, S.T., Pollard, C.D. et al. Anterior cruciate ligament reconstructed females who pass or fail a functional test battery do not exhibit differences in knee joint landing biomechanics asymmetry before and after exercise. Knee Surg Sports Traumatol Arthrosc 28, 1960–1970 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00167-019-05707-9

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