Background Lower extremity (LE) malalignments are risk factors for ACL injury because they are associated with high incidence rates of ACL injury and dynamic malalignment during actual motions. If LE alignments (LEAs) influence dynamic alignment, they may also influence field performance level.
Objective To clarify the relationship of LEAs to field performance.
Design Correlation study.
Setting Laboratory and athletic field.
Patients (or Participants) Ninety-five female handball, basketball, and volleyball players with no history of ACL injuries (height=164.1±6.3 cm; weight=61±6.0 kg; age=19.6±1.1 years) were included.
Interventions (or assessment of risk factors) Examiners who established high measurement consistencies (intraclass correlation=0.826∼0.983) measured LEAs, including genu recurvatum, anterior knee joint laxity, and hip anteversion in supine and prone positions, and pelvic anterior tilt, dorsiflexion range of motion (ROM), navicular drop, rearfoot eversion angle, quadriceps angle, and tibiofemoral angle. Field performance testing included 20-m sprint time, single- and double-leg rebound (RJ) and countermovement jumps (CMJ), standing long jump, and Edgren sidestep test.
Main outcome measurements Controlling for influences of players’ height, weight, and sports, separate stepwise multiple regression analyses were conducted having each field performance index as a dependent and LEAs as independent variables.
Results Decreased sprint, sidestep, standing long jump, CMJ, and RJ performances were related to one or combinations of increased genu recurvatum, tibiofemoral angle, quadriceps angle, rearfoot eversion, navicular drop, pelvic anterior tilt, and dorsiflexion ROM, and decreased hip anteversion in the supine position (R 2=0.089∼0.569; significance of regression models≤0.001∼0.04; significance of the regression coefficients=3*10−11∼0.096).
Conclusions Almost all directions of the LEA measures to associate with decreased field performance were the same as those of the LE malalignments that are related to the risk of ACL injury. Thus, correcting LE malalignments may improve ACL injury prevention and athletic performance.
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