Multiplanar Loading of the Knee and Its Influence on Anterior Cruciate Ligament and Medial Collateral Ligament Strain During Simulated Landings and Noncontact Tears

Background:Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tears and concomitant medial collateral ligament (MCL) injuries are known to occur during dynamic athletic tasks that place combinatorial frontal and transverse plane loads on the knee. A mechanical impact simulator that produces clinical presentation of ACL injury allows for the quantification of individual loading contributors leading to ACL failure.Purpose/Hypothesis:The objective was to delineate the relationship between knee abduction moment, anterior tibial shear, and internal tibial rotation applied at the knee and ACL strain during physiologically defined simulations of impact at a knee flexion angle representative of initial contact landing from a jump. The hypothesis tested was that before ACL failure, abduction moment would induce greater change in ACL strain during landing than either anterior shear or internal rotation.Study Design:Controlled laboratory study.Methods:Nineteen cadaveric specimens were subjected to simulated landings in the mechanical...