Abstract
Objective:Athletes who return to sport after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR) demonstrate persistent biomechanical and neuromuscular deficits of the knee. There is limited evidence on what effect a neuromuscular training (NMT) program has on knee biomechanics in a cohort of athletes with ACLR. Therefore, the primary aim of this study was to quantify the effect of an NMT program on knee biomechanics in a cohort of ACLR athletes. Second, the post-training knee biomechanics were compared between the cohort of ACLR and control athletes.Design:Cohort study.Setting:Controlled laboratory setting.Participants:Eighteen athletes with ACLR and 10 control athletes.Interventions:Neuromuscular training.Main Outcome Measures:Knee kinematics and kinetics during a double-limb jump-landing task.Results:There were no significant interactions (P > 0.05) observed for the athletes with ACLR. However, there was a significant main effect of biomechanics testing session (P < 0.05) for knee flexion angle and moments; athletes with ACLR demonstrated greater knee flexion angle and lower knee flexion moment during the post-training biomechanics testing session. Post-training comparison between the ACLR and control athletes demonstrated no significant interactions (P > 0.05) between the groups. There was a significant main effect of group (P < 0.05) for knee frontal angle, as athletes with ACLR landed with greater knee adduction than the control athletes.Conclusions:Significant improvements in knee sagittal plane biomechanical measures were observed after the NMT program by the athletes with ACLR. In addition, post-training comparison of the ACLR and control groups demonstrates comparable knee biomechanics.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 113-119 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine |
Volume | 31 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Mar 1 2021 |
Keywords
- anterior cruciate ligament
- anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction
- biomechanics
- drop vertical jump
- neuromuscular training
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Orthopedics and Sports Medicine
- Physical Therapy, Sports Therapy and Rehabilitation