Purpose:

To determine if heel height alters vertical ground reaction forces (vGRF) when landing from a forward hop or drop landing.

Background:

Increased vGRF during landing are theorized to increase ACL injury risk in female athletes.

Methods:

Fifty collegiate females performed two single‐limb landing tasks while wearing heel lifts of three different sizes (0, 12 & 24 mm) attached to the bottom of a athletic shoe. Using a force plate, peak vGRF at landing was examined. Repeated measures ANOVAs were used to determine the influence of heel height on the dependent measures.

Results:

Forward hop task‐ Peak vGRF (normalized for body mass) with 0 mm, 12 mm, and 24 mm lifts were 2.613±0.498, 2.616±0.497 and 2.495±0.518% BW, respectively. Significant differences were noted between 0 and 24 mm lift (p<.001) and 12 and 24 mm lifts (p=.004), but not between the 0 and 12 mm conditions (p=.927). Jump‐landing task‐ No significant differences were found in peak vGRF (p=.192) between any of the heel lift conditions.

Conclusions:

The addition of a 24 mm heel lift to the bottom of a sneaker significantly alters peak vGRF upon landing from a unilateral forward hop but not from a jumping maneuver.

Purpose:

To determine if heel height alters sagittal plane knee kinematics when landing from a forward hop or drop landing.

Background:

Knee angles close to extension during landing are theorized to increase ACL injury risk in female athletes.

Methods:

Fifty collegiate females performed two single-limb landing tasks while wearing heel lifts of three different sizes (0, 12 & 24 mm) attached to the bottom of a sneaker. Using an electrogoniometer, sagittal plane kinematics (initial contact [KAIC], peak flexion [KAPeak], and rate of excursion [RE]) were examined. Repeated measures ANOVAs were used to determine the influence of heel height on the dependent measures.

Results:

Forward hop task- KAIC with 0 mm, 12 mm, and 24 mm lifts were 8.88±6.5, 9.38±5.8 and 11.28±7.0, respectively. Significant differences were noted between 0 and 24 mm lift (p<.001) and 12 and 24 mm lifts (p=.003), but not between the 0 and 12 mm conditions (p=.423). KAPeak with 0 mm, 12 mm, and 24 mm lifts were 47.08±10.9, 48.18±10.3 and 48.88±9.7, respectively. A significant difference was noted between 0 and 24 mm lift (p=.004), but not between the 0 and 12 mm or 12 and 24 mm conditions (p=.071 and p=.282, respectively). The RE decreased significantly from 2128/sec±52 with the 12 mm lift to 1958/sec±55 with the 24 mm lift (p=.004). RE did not differ from 0 to 12 or 0 to 24 mm lift conditions (p=.351 and p=.086, respectively). Jump-landing task- No significant differences were found in KAIC (p=.531), KAPeak (p=.741), or the RE (p=.190) between any of the heel lift conditions.

Conclusions:

The addition of a 24 mm heel lift to the bottom of a sneaker significantly alters sagittal plane knee kinematics upon landing from a unilateral forward hop but not from a drop jump.

Background:

Female athletes continue to injure their anterior cruciate ligaments at a greater rate than males in comparable sports. During landing activities, females exhibit several different kinematic and kinetic traits when compared to their male counterparts including decreased knee flexion angles as well as decreased lower extremity (LE) strength. While open kinetic chain strength measures have not been related to landing kinematics, given the closer replication of movement patterns that occur during closed kinetic chain (CKC) activity, it is possible that lower extremity strength if measured in this fashion will be related to landing kinematics.

Purpose:

To determine if unilateral isometric CKC lower extremity (LE) strength was related to sagittal plane tibiofemoral kinematics during a single leg landing task in competitive female athletes. We hypothesized females who demonstrated lesser CKC LE strength would exhibit decreased sagittal plane angles during landing.

Methods:

20 competitive female athletes (age = 16.0 ± 1.8 yrs; height = 166.5 ± 8.3 cm; weight = 59.7 ± 10.2 kg) completed CKC LE strength testing followed by 5 unilateral drop landings on the dominant LE during one test session at an outpatient physical therapy clinic. Closed kinetic chain LE strength was measured on a computerized leg press with an integrated load cell while sagittal plane tibiofemoral kinematics were quantified with an electrogoniometer.

Results:

No significant relationships between absolute or normalized isometric CKC strength and sagittal plane landing kinematics were identified.

Conclusions:

Closed kinetic chain lower extremity isometric strength tested at 25 degrees of knee flexion is not related to sagittal plane landing kinematics in adolescent competitive female athletes.

Levels of Evidence: Analytic, Observational