Abstract Women are more prone to anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury during cutting sports than men. The purpose of this study was to examine knee kinematic and ground reaction forces (GRF) differences between genders during cutting. Male and female athletes performed cutting trials while force platform and video data were recorded (180 Hz). Differences (p ≤ .05) were observed between groups for knee flexion at contact and GRF at maximum knee flexion. Women averaged 5.8° less flexion at contact and 1.0 N·(kg·m·s1)−1 greater GRF at maximum flexion. Knee range of motion and peak GRF variables were not significantly different, but women had greater values. Women exhibited technique characteristics believed to increase ACL injury risk, but men exhibiting similar characteristics were also observed and could also be at risk.
Background: Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries are immediately disabling, costly, take a significant amount of time to rehabilitate, and are associated with an increased risk of developing posttraumatic osteoarthritis of the knee. Specific multiplanar movement patterns of the lower extremity, such as those associated with the drop vertical jump (DVJ) test, have been shown to be associated with an increased risk of suffering noncontact ACL injuries. The Landing Error Scoring System (LESS) has been developed as a tool that can be applied to identify individuals who display at-risk movement patterns during the DVJ. Hypothesis: An increase in LESS score is associated with an increased risk of noncontact ACL injury. Study Design: Case-control study; Level of evidence, 3. Methods: Over a 3-year interval, 5047 high school and college participants performed preseason DVJ tests that were recorded using commercial video cameras. All participants were followed for ACL injury during their sports season, and video data from injured participants and matched controls were then assessed with the LESS. Conditional logistic regression analysis was used to examine the association between LESS score and ACL injury risk in all participants as well as subgroups of female, male, high school, and college participants. Results: There was no relationship between the risk of suffering ACL injury and LESS score whether measured as a continuous or a categorical variable. This was the case for all participants combined (odds ratio, 1.04 per unit increase in LESS score; 95% confidence interval, 0.80-1.35) as well as within each subgroup (odds ratio range, 0.99-1.14). Conclusion: The LESS did not predict ACL injury in our cohort of high school and college athletes.
The effectiveness of strength and conditioning programs in male and some in elite female athletes is well reported. However, few studies have examined the effect of a summer training program in high school female athletes. PURPOSE To determine the effectiveness of a short-term strength and conditioning program in enhancing the physical fitness profile of high school female athletes in preparation for a regular sports seasons. METHODS Twenty three high school female athletes with a mean age of sixteen (range 13–17 years old), of different baseline fitness conditions (trained-ten and untrained-thirteen) were enrolled in a seven- week program. The schedule consisted of a strength and plyometric training regimen three days per week – on Mondays (legs, shoulder/arms plus core conditioning exercises), Tuesdays (chest/back, core and jumps), and Thursdays (legs, core and jumps). Performance improvement was measured pre and post training by 9 indicators used in our study. Muscular strength was tested by: 1 repetition maximum (RM) Parallel Squat and 1RM Bench Press, muscular endurance was measured by: the number of push-ups and sit-ups, muscular power by: the Vertical Jump and Standing Long Jump, speed/agility skills by: the timed T-test and Hexagon drills, and flexibility by: the Sit and Reach test. RESULTS Statistically significant (p < 0.05) improvement was found in terms of magnitudes and percentages of changes for most indicators of strength, power, endurance, flexibility, speed, and agility. In particular, an average of 27% increase (p < 0.01) was found in squats. In our multivariate analyses, however, we found that the effect of the total number of days in training did not significantly (p > 0.10) affect most of the outcome indicators. CONCLUSION A short-term pre-season strength and conditioning program in high school female athletes was found to be effective in improving performance of these athletes.
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