Temporal Kinematic Differences between Forward and Backward Jump-Landing

New Insights Optimize Landing Strategies to Reduce Lower Limb Injury Risk

Single-leg landing (SL) is often associated with a high injury risk, especially anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries and lateral ankle sprain. This work investigates the relationship between ankle motion patterns (ankle initial contact angle [AICA] and ankle range of motion [AROM]) and the lower limb injury risk during SL, and proposes an optimized landing strategy that can reduce the injury risk. To more realistically revert and simulate the ACL injury mechanics, we developed a knee musculoskeletal model that reverts the ACL ligament to a nonlinear short-term viscoelastic mechanical mechanism (strain rate-dependent) generated by the dense connective tissue as a function of strain. Sixty healthy male subjects were recruited to collect biomechanics data during SL. The correlation analysis was conducted to explore the relationship between AICA, AROM, and peak vertical ground reaction force (PVGRF), joint total energy dissipation (TED), peak ankle knee hip sagittal moment, peak ankle inversion angle (PAIA), and peak ACL force (PAF). AICA exhibits a negative correlation with PVGRF (r = -0.591) and PAF (r = -0.554), and a positive correlation with TED (r = 0.490) and PAIA (r = 0.502). AROM exhibits a positive correlation with TED (r = 0.687) and PAIA (r = 0.600). The results suggested that the appropriate increases in AICA (30° to 40°) and AROM (50° to 70°) may reduce the lower limb injury risk. This study has the potential to offer novel perspectives on the optimized application of landing strategies, thus giving the crucial theoretical basis for decreasing injury risk.

One-dimension statistical parametric mapping in lower limb biomechanical analysis: A systematic scoping review

BACKGROUND

Biomechanics significantly impacts sports performance and injury prevention. Traditional methods like discrete point analysis simplify continuous kinetic and kinematic data, while one-dimensional Statistical Parametric Mapping (spm1d) evaluates entire movement curves. Nevertheless, spm1d's application in sports and injury research is limited. As no systematic review exists, we conducted a scoping systematic review, synthesizing the current applications of spm1d across various populations, activities, and injuries. This review concludes by identifying gaps in the literature and suggesting areas for future research.

RESEARCH QUESTION

What research exists using spm1d in sports biomechanics, focusing on the lower limbs, in what populations, and what are the current research gaps?

METHODS

We searched PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and ProQuest databases for the following search string: "(((knee) OR (hip)) OR (ankle)) OR (foot) OR (feet) AND (statistical parametric mapping)". English peer-reviewed studies assessing lower limb kinetics or kinematics in different sports or sports-related injuries were included. Reviews, meta-analyses, conference abstracts, and grey literature were excluded.

RESULTS

Our search yielded 165 papers published since 2012. Among these, 112 examined healthy individuals (67 %), and 53 focused on injured populations (33 %). Running (n = 45), cutting (n = 25), and jumping/landing (n = 18) were the most common activities. The predominant injuries were anterior cruciate ligament rupture (n = 21), chronic ankle instability (n = 18), and hip-related pain (n = 9). The main research gaps included the unbalanced populations, underrepresentation of common sports and sport-related injuries, gender inequality, a lack of studies in non-laboratory settings, a lack of studies on varied sports gear, and a lack of reporting standardization.

SIGNIFICANCE

This review spotlights crucial gaps in spm1d research within sports biomechanics. Key issues include a lack of studies beyond laboratory settings, underrepresentation of various sports and injuries, and gender disparities in research populations. Addressing these gaps can significantly enhance the application of spm1d in sports performance, injury analysis, and rehabilitation.

A new method applied for explaining the landing patterns: Interpretability analysis of machine learning

As one of many fundamental sports techniques, the landing maneuver is also frequently used in clinical injury screening and diagnosis. However, the landing patterns are different under different constraints, which will cause great difficulties for clinical experts in clinical diagnosis. Machine learning (ML) have been very successful in solving a variety of clinical diagnosis tasks, but they all have the disadvantage of being black boxes and rarely provide and explain useful information about the reasons for making a particular decision. The current work validates the feasibility of applying an explainable ML (XML) model constructed by Layer-wise Relevance Propagation (LRP) for landing pattern recognition in clinical biomechanics. This study collected 560 groups landing data. By incorporating these landing data into the XML model as input signals, the prediction results were interpreted based on the relevance score (RS) derived from LRP. The interpretation obtained from XML was evaluated comprehensively from the statistical perspective based on Statistical Parametric Mapping (SPM) and Effect Size. The RS has excellent statistical characteristics in the interpretation of landing patterns between classes, and also conforms to the clinical characteristics of landing pattern recognition. The current work highlights the applicability of XML methods that can not only satisfy the traditional decision problem between classes, but also largely solve the lack of transparency in landing pattern recognition. We provide a feasible framework for realizing interpretability of ML decision results in landing analysis, providing a methodological reference and solid foundation for future clinical diagnosis and biomechanical analysis.

Effect of six-week short-duration deep breathing on young adults with chronic ankle instability-a pilot randomized control trial

BACKGROUND

Chronic ankle instability (CAI) is the most common injury in youth sports, which leads to psychological stress from doubting their performance. Cost effective and easy to access tool to reduce the stress among this target group are desired. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of adding on intervention with short-duration deep breathing (SDDB) alongside with conventional physiotherapy (CP) among young adults with chronic ankle instability (CAI).

METHODS

Total of 30 CAI participants attended physiotherapy, who were randomly assigned into control and experimental groups. The participants in the experimental group received combined intervention (SDDB + CP), and the control group received CP for 6 weeks. The effectiveness of interventions was assessed at 3 intervals with a battery of questionnaires (Visual Analog Score, Cumberland Ankle Instability Tool, Mindful Attention Awareness Scale, and Oxford Happiness Questionnaire) at the end of week 3, week 6, and week 12 as follow-up. A two-way repeated measures of ANOVA was applied to report the statistical significance at p < 0.05.

RESULTS

The results showed a better improvement in pain, balance, happiness, and mindfulness attention among participants in the experimental group, with a significant improvement in mindful attention over the time point as compared to the control group.

CONCLUSION

The findings provide insight into incorporating SDDB additions to the existing CP for better CAI management. Breathing techniques that improve attention and happiness play a vital role in CAI, which recommends the biopsychosocial approach in chronic injury rehabilitation.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

Current Controlled Trials using Clinical Trials Registry under ID number NCT04812158 retrospectively registered on 23/03/2021.

Accurately and effectively predict the ACL force: Utilizing biomechanical landing pattern before and after-fatigue

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE

As a fundamental exercise technique, landing can commonly be associated with anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury, especially during after-fatigue single-leg landing (SL). Presently, the inability to accurately detect ACL loading makes it difficult to recognize the risk degree of ACL injury, which reduces the effectiveness of injury prevention and sports monitoring. Increased risk of ACL injury during after-fatigue SL may be related to changes in ankle motion patterns. Therefore, this study aims to develop a highly accurate and easily implemented ACL force prediction model by combining deep learning and the explored relationship between ACL force and ankle motion pattern.

METHODS

First, 56 subjects' during before and after-fatigue SL data were collected to explore the relationship between the ankle initial contact angle (AIC), ankle range of motion (AROM) and peak ACL force (PAF). Then, the musculoskeletal model was developed to simulate and calculate the ACL force. Finally, the ACL force prediction model was constructed by combining the explored relationship and sparrow search algorithm (SSA) to optimize the extreme learning machine (ELM) and long short-term memory (LSTM).

RESULTS

There was almost a stronger linear relationship between the PAF and AIC (R = -0.70), AROM (R2 = -0.61). By substituting AIC and AROM as independent variables in the SSA-ELM prediction model, the model shows excellent prediction performance because of very strong correlation (R2 = 0.9992,  MSE = 0.0023,  RMSE = 0.0474). Based on the equal scaling by combining results of SSA-ELM and SSA-LSTM, the prediction model achieves excellent performance in ACL force prediction of the overall waveform (R2 = 0.9947,  MSE = 0.0076,  RMSE = 0.0873).

CONCLUSION

By increasing the AIC and AROM during SL, the lower limb joint energy dissipation can be increased and the PAF reduced, thus reducing the impact loads on the lower limb joints and reducing ACL injuries. The proposed ACL dynamic load force prediction model has low input variable demands (sagittal joint angles), excellent generalization capabilities and superior performance in terms of high accuracy. In the future, we plan to use it as an accurate ACL injury risk assessment tool to promote and apply it to a wider range of sports training and injury monitoring.

Three-dimensional ankle kinematics of the full gait cycle in patients with chronic ankle instability: A case-control study

Objectives

The ankle kinematic characteristics of chronic ankle instability (CAI) at different gait phases and dimensions were not directly and overall explained. These characteristics have yet to be established. This study aimed to observe ankle kinematic changes of CAI, and explore their mechanisms, at different gait phases and dimensions in full gait cycle.

Methods

A three-dimensional (3D) motion capture system measured the 3D ankle movements of 53 individuals with CAI (meanage = 25.11 ± 6.01years, meanheight = 170.77 ± 7.80 cm, meanmass = 64.28 ± 9.28 kg) and 53 healthy controls (meanage = 24.66 ± 6.32 years, meanheight = 169.98 ± 9.00 cm, meanmass = 63.11 ± 9.62 kg) during barefoot walking overground at a self-selected speed. Once the acquisition results were processed with visual 3D software, the kinematics data were exported, and the eight phases of the gait cycle were identified.

Results

As compared with the control group, individuals with CAI displayed a significantly smaller plantarflexion in toe off (P = 0.049, Cohen's d = 0.387), a significantly increased inversion in heel strike (P = 0.007, Cohen's d = 0.271) and initial swing (P = 0.035, Cohen's d = 0.233), mid-swing (P = 0.019, Cohen's d = 0.232) and end-swing (P = 0.021, Cohen's d = 0.214), and significantly smaller eversion in mid stance（P = 0.010, Cohen's d = 0.288）and heel off (P = 0.033, Cohen's d = 0.089). Significant between-group differences in ankle kinematics were observed in the sagittal and frontal planes, but not in the horizontal plane, during walking.

Conclusion

When walking, patients with CAI have altered sagittal- and frontal-plane kinematics during different stance and swing phases. These kinematic changes require multi-dimensional, dynamic, continuous functional assessment and specialized rehabilitation intervention.

Biomechanical Analysis of Latin Dancers' Lower Limb during Normal Walking

Latin dance involves fundamental walking steps, integral to the dance process. While resembling daily walking, Latin dance demands higher balance levels, necessitating body adjustments by dancers. These adaptations affect dancers' gait biomechanics, prompting our study on gait differences between Latin dancers (LDs) and non-dancers (NDs). We enlisted 21 female Latin dancers and 21 subjects based on specific criteria. Participants executed walking tasks, with an independent sample t-test for 1-dimensional statistical parameter mapping (SPM 1d) analyzing stance phase variations between LDs and NDs. Notably, significant differences in ankle and hip external rotation were evident during the 16.43-29.47% (p = 0.015) and 86.35-100% (p = 0.014) stance phase. Moreover, pronounced distinctions in rectus Achilles tendon force (ATF) (12.83-13.10%, p = 0.049; 15.89-80.19%, p < 0.001) and Patellofemoral joint contact force (PTF) (15.85-18.31%, p = 0.039; 21.14-24.71%, p = 0.030) during stance were noted between LDs (Latin dancers) and NDs (Non-dancers). The study revealed dancers' enhanced balance attributed to external ankle rotation for dance stability, coupled with augmented Achilles tendon and patellofemoral joint strength from prolonged practice. Moreover, integrating suitable Latin dance into rehabilitation may benefit those with internal rotation gait issues.

Association Between the Medial-Lateral Quadriceps and Hamstring Muscle Thickness and the Knee Kinematics and Kinetics During Single-Leg Landing

BACKGROUND

Muscle thickness can influence the joint kinematics and/or kinetics during dynamic activities. The relationship between the muscle thickness of individual quadriceps and hamstrings or medial-to-lateral thigh muscle thickness ratio and the knee kinematics/kinetics with respect to anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury risk remains unclear.

HYPOTHESIS

Higher medial-to-lateral thigh muscle thickness ratio would be associated with lower knee valgus angle/moment and lower tibial internal rotation angle/moment during single-leg landing.

STUDY DESIGN

Cross-sectional.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE

Level 4.

METHODS

Muscle thickness of the vastus lateralis (VL), vastus medialis (VM), biceps femoris (BF), and semitendinosus (ST) of 30 healthy participants (16 males and 14 females) were measured using ultrasound. Knee joint kinematics and kinetics during single-leg landing were obtained. Stepwise multiple regression analysis, a follow-up Fisher's r to z test to examine the sex as a moderator, and independent t tests to evaluate sex difference were performed.

RESULTS

Both knee valgus moment (R2 = 0.466, P < 0.001) and tibial external rotation moment (R2 = 0.330, P < 0.001) at peak anterior tibial shear force during single-leg landing were negatively correlated with medial-to-lateral (ie, (VM+ST):(VL+BF)) thickness ratio regardless of sex, whereas medial-to-lateral thigh muscle thickness ratio was not correlated with knee valgus and tibial external rotation angles. Male participants exhibited higher (VM+ST):(VL+BF) thickness ratio than female participants (P = 0.005), and lower knee valgus moment (P = 0.04) and tibial external rotation moment (P = 0.05), as well.

CONCLUSION

The knee joint moments in frontal and transverse planes during single-leg landing were associated with the medial-to-lateral thigh muscle thickness ratio; thus, the medial-lateral thigh muscle thickness could be a potential contributor to frontal and transverse plane knee joint loading during dynamic movement.

CLINICAL RELEVANCE

Strength training that aims to selectively strengthen the medial/lateral thigh muscles might be considered in a new ACL injury prevention training program to alter the biomechanical parameters associated with ACL injuries.

Children's strategies in drop-landing

Introduction

Landing is a critical motor skill included in many activities performed in the natural environment by young children. Yet, landing is critically relevance to ensure proper stability and reduce injury. Furthermore, landing is an integral part of many fundamental motor skills which have been linked to greater physical activity, sport participation, and perceived competence in children. Our aim was to examine the drop-landing strategies of young children focusing on the lower extremity with a multi-variant approach.

Methods

Forty-four children divided into four age groups (G1:3–4.5 y, G2:4.5–6 y, G3:6–7.5 y, G4:7.5–9 y) performed 20 drop-land trials in four different conditions: predictable stationary landing, running to the left, to the right, and stay in place. Fifteen reflective markers, two force plates, and ten surface electromyography (sEMG) sensors were used to collect data. MANOVAs (Group x Condition) were conducted separately for the kinematic, kinetic, and sEMG variables.

Results

Only significant group effects were found (kinematic MANOVA p = 0.039, kinetic MANOVA p = 0.007, and sEMG MANOVA p = 0.012), suggesting that younger groups (G1, G2) differed to the older groups (G3, G4). G1 showed less knee flexion and slower ankle dorsi-flexion during the braking phase compared to G3, while G2 presented smaller ankle dorsi-flexion at the braking phase and smaller ankle range of motion than G3. Overall kinetic variables analysis showed a group difference but no group differences for any single kinetic variable alone was found. Regarding sEMG, G1 during the flight phase exhibited longer tibialis anterior and hamstrings activity than G3 and G3 &amp; G4, respectively; and an earlier start of the hamstrings' impact burst than G4. In addition, distal to proximal control was primarily used by all groups to coordinate muscle activity (in response to impact) and joint motion (after impact).

Discussion

Perhaps a developmental critical point in landing performance exists at 4–5 years of age since G1 presented the largest differences among the groups. This suggests that to improve landing strategies could start around this age. Future studies should examine if playground environments that include equipment conducive to landing and practitioners in the kindergarten schools are adequate vehicles to empower this type of intervention.

Lower limb kinetic comparisons between the chasse step and one step footwork during stroke play in table tennis

Background

Biomechanical footwork research during table tennis performance has been the subject of much interest players and exercise scientists. The purpose of this study was to investigate the lower limb kinetic characteristics of the chasse step and one step footwork during stroke play using traditional discrete analysis and one-dimensional statistical parameter mapping.

Methods

Twelve national level 1 table tennis players (Height: 172 ± 3.80 cm, Weight: 69 ± 6.22 kg, Age: 22 ± 1.66 years, Experience: 11 ± 1.71 year) from Ningbo University volunteered to participate in the study. The kinetic data of the dominant leg during the chasse step and one step backward phase (BP) and forward phase (FP) was recorded by instrumented insole systems and a force platform. Paired sample T tests were used to analyze maximum plantar force, peak pressure of each plantar region, the force time integral and the pressure time integral. For SPM analysis, the plantar force time series curves were marked as a 100% process. A paired-samples T-test in MATLAB was used to analyze differences in plantar force.

Results

One step produced a greater plantar force than the chasse step during 6.92–11.22% BP (P = 0.039). The chasse step produced a greater plantar force than one step during 53.47–99.01% BP (P < 0.001). During the FP, the chasse step showed a greater plantar force than the one step in 21.06–84.06% (P < 0.001). The one step produced a higher maximum plantar force in the BP (P = 0.032) and a lower maximum plantar force in the FP (P = 0) compared with the chasse step. The one step produced greater peak pressure in the medial rearfoot (P = 0) , lateral rearfoot (P = 0) and lateral forefoot (P = 0.042) regions than the chasse step during BP. In FP, the chasse step showed a greater peak pressure in the Toe (P = 0) than the one step. The one step had a lower force time integral (P = 0) and greater pressure time integral (P = 0) than the chasse step in BP, and the chasse step produced a greater force time integral (P = 0) and pressure time integral (P = 0.001) than the one step in the FP.

Conclusion

The findings indicate that athletes can enhance plantarflexion function resulting in greater weight transfer, facilitating a greater momentum during the 21.06–84.06% of FP. This is in addition to reducing the load on the dominant leg during landing by utilizing a buffering strategy. Further to this, consideration is needed to enhance the cushioning capacity of the sole heel and the stiffness of the toe area.

Prediction of the Risk Factors of Knee Injury During Drop-Jump Landing With Core-related Measurements in Amature Basketball Players

Purpose: To evaluate the relationship between specific aspects of core stability and knee injury risk factors during drop-jump (DJ) landing.

Methods: Eighteen college-aged male amateur basketball players participated in the project. Kinetic and kinematic data for DJ tasks were collected with force plates and infrared cameras. Raw data were processed to calculate knee joint angles and joint moments during DJ landing. Different components of core stability were represented by the sit-ups in 20 s (SU), trunk extensor endurance, trunk flexion and extension range of motion, dominant extremity single-leg stance time (DLS), and dominant extremity single-leg hop distance, respectively.

Methods: Correlation and regression were used to determine the relationship between jumping-related biomechanical parameters and core stability components.

Results: SU shared significant variance with the peak moment of knee extension (PMKE, p < 0.05), the peak moment of knee abduction (PMKA, p < 0.05), and the angle of knee internal rotation at initial contact (AKRI, p < 0.05). DLS shared significant variance with the angular motion of knee internal rotation (AMKR, p < 0.05) and the AKRI (p < 0.01). SU and DLS together could explain 52% of the variance observed in the AKRI, and the result was significant.

Conclusion: Core stability’s strength and motor control aspects played an essential role in preventing knee injury during DJ landing. An integrative training program addressing core strength and motor control could be considered for coaches and athletes to prevent knee injury through core training and conditioning.

Effects of Video Task With a High-Level Exercise Illustration on Knee Movements in Male Volleyball Spike Jump

Hazardous knee biomechanics, such as excessive knee affordance link with injuries in volleyball spike jumps (SPJs) and can be reconfigured by the enhancement of internal focus. The study aimed to explore the effects of video tasks illustrating a high-level SPJ on knee movement in the volleyball SPJ with 15 elite male volleyball athletes. This study investigated the knee movements in sagittal, coronal, and transverse planes before and after the video task in SPJ using one-dimensional statistical parametric mapping (SPM 1D) and discrete statistics. The SPM 1D indicated a larger knee flexion angle (31.17-73.19%, t = 2.611, and p = 0.012), increased knee flexion moment (19.72-21.38%, t = 0.029, and p = 0.029), and increased knee adduction angular velocity (49.07-62.64%, t = 3.148, and p = 0.004) after video task; alternatively, smaller knee external rotation angular velocity (45.85-49.96%, t = 5.199, and p = 0.017) and vertical ground reaction (vGRF) (3.13-5.94%, t = 4.096, and p = 0.014; 19.83-21.97%, t = 4.096, and p = 0.024) were found after the task. With discrete value statistics, the video task increased the peak of knee flexion angle while decreased the peak of extension moment, flexion moment, abduction moment, external moment, the first peak vGRF, and related loading rate. Conclusions: The results indicate that knee biomechanics in volleyball SPJ positively influenced by the video task. The task has the athletes control the knee movements more actively and improves the original hazardous movement strategies. Therefore, the video task presumably can abate the occurrence of knee injuries in volleyball SPJ. Further validation especially in the exercise effect is needed in the future.

An Investigation of Differences in Lower Extremity Biomechanics During Single-Leg Landing From Height Using Bionic Shoes and Normal Shoes

Bionic shoes utilizing an actual foot shape sole structure can alter lower limb’s biomechanics, which may help in the development of specific training or rehabilitation programs. The purpose of this study was to investigate the biomechanical differences in the lower limb during a single-leg landing task using bionic shoes (BS) and normal shoes (NS). Fifteen healthy male subjects participated in this study, sagittal, and frontal plane data were collected during the landing phase (drop landing from 35 cm platform). Our study showed that BS depicted a significantly greater minimum knee flexion angle at initial contact (p = 0.000), a significantly greater minimum (initial contact) hip flexion angle at initial contact (p = 0.009), a significantly smaller sagittal plane total energy dissipation (p = 0.028), a significantly smaller frontal plane total energy dissipation (p = 0.008), a significantly smaller lower limb total energy dissipation (p = 0.017) than NS during the landing phase. SPM analysis revealed that BS depicted a significantly smaller knee joint vertical reaction force during the 13.8–19.8% landing phase (p = 0.01), a significantly smaller anterior tibia shear force during the 14.2–17.5% landing phase (p = 0.024) than NS. BS appears to change lower limb kinematics at initial contact and then readjust the landing strategies for joint work and joint reaction force, thereby reducing the risk of lower limb skeletal muscle injury. BS have great potential for future development and application uses, which may help athletes to reduce lower limb injury risk.

Analysis of Different Stop-Jumping Strategies on the Biomechanical Changes in the Lower Limbs

The stop-jumping task is one of the most important technical actions in basketball. A previous study showed 70% probability of non-contact ACL injuries during stop-jumping tasks. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the differences in lower extremity biomechanical changes between the rear foot as the initial contact area to terminate the jump (SJR) and the fore foot as the initial contact area to also terminate the jump (SJF) during the horizontal landing during a stop-jumping phase. In total, 25 male amateur Ningbo University basketball athletes from China were recruited for this study. The participants were asked to jump vertically by using two different stop-jumping strategies. Kinematic and kinetics data were amassed during a stop-jumping task. Statistical parametric mapping (SPM) analysis was used to find the differences between SJR and SJF. Our results indicated that the change of different ankle range of motion caused significantly different values for knee angle (p < 0.001), velocity (p = 0.003) (p = 0.023) (p < 0.001), moment (p = 0.04) (p < 0.001), (p = 0.036) and power (p = 0.015) (p < 0.001) during the stop-jumping phase and the horizontal landing phase. The same biomechanical parameters of the hip joint were also significantly different for hip angle (p < 0.001), moment (p = 0.012) (p < 0.001) (p < 0.001), and power (p = 0.01) (p < 0.001) (p < 0.001). These findings indicate that altering the primary contact at the ankle angle might effectively reduce the risk of a knee injury.

Biomechanical Characteristics between Bionic Shoes and Normal Shoes during the Drop-Landing Phase: A Pilot Study

With the development of unstable footwear, more research has focused on the advantages of this type of shoe. This type of shoe could improve the muscle function of the lower limb and prevent injury risks in dynamic situations. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate differences in lower-limb kinetics and kinematics based on single-leg landing (SLL) using normal shoes (NS) and bionic shoes (BS). The study used 15 male subject volunteers (age 23.4 ± 1.14 years, height 177.6 ± 4.83cm, body weight (BW) 73.6 ± 7.02 kg). To ensure the subject standardization of the participants, there were several inclusion criteria used for selection. There were two kinds of experimental shoes used in the landing experiment to detect the change of lower limbs when a landing task was performed. Kinetics and kinematic data were collected during an SLL task, and statistical parametric mapping (SPM) analysis was used to evaluate the differences between NS and BS. We found that the flexion and extension angles of the knee (p = 0.004) and hip (p = 0.046, p = 0.018) joints, and the dorsiflexion and plantarflexion of ankle (p = 0.031) moment were significantly different in the sagittal planes. In the frontal plane, the eversion and inversion of the ankle (p = 0.016), and the abduction and adduction of knee (p = 0.017, p = 0.007) angle were found significant differences. In the horizontal plane, the external and internal rotation of hip (p = 0.036) and knee (p < 0.001, p = 0.029) moment were found significant differences, and knee angle (p = 0.043) also. According to our results, we conclude that using BS can cause bigger knee and hip flexion than NS. Also, this finding indicates that BS might be considered to reduce lower-limb injury risk during the SLL phase.

Prolonged Running Using Bionic Footwear Influences Lower Limb Biomechanics

The running biomechanics of unstable shoes have been well investigated, however, little is known about how traditional neutral shoes in combination with unstable design elements and scientifically (bionic) designed shoes influence prolonged running biomechanics. The purpose of this study was to investigate biomechanical changes for a typical 5 km run and how footwear technology may affect outcomes. Sixteen healthy male recreational heel strike runners participated in this study, and completed two prolonged running sessions (neutral shoe session and bionic shoe session), with 7 to 10 days interval between sessions. A two-way repeated-measures analysis of variance (ANOVA, shoe × time) was conducted to determine any differences in joint biomechanics. Main effects for shoe type were observed at the ankle, knee and hip joints during the stance phase. In particular, decreased range of motion (ROM) was observed using the bionic shoes for all three joints, and the joint moments also had significant changes except for the frontal plane of the hip. Main effects for time were also observed at the ankle, knee and hip joints. The ROM of the sagittal plane in the knee and hip decreased post-5 km running. The reduction of ankle dorsiflexion, hip flexion, hip adduction and hip internal rotation angles were observed post-5 km running, as well as the increase of ankle eversion and external rotation, knee adduction and internal rotation angles. The kinetics also exhibited significant differences between pre-5 km running and post-5 km running. The interaction effects only existed in the ROM of the hip sagittal plane, hip adduction angle and hip internal rotation angle. The results suggested that bionic shoes could be beneficial for strengthening muscle control, enhancing postural stability and proprioceptive ability. Footwear personalization could be a solution that benefits runners, reduces injury risk and improves running performance.

Single-Leg Landings Following a Volleyball Spike May Increase the Risk of Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury More Than Landing on Both-Legs

Volleyball players often land on a single leg following a spike shot due to a shift in the center of gravity and loss of balance. Landing on a single leg following a spike may increase the probability of non-contact anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries. The purpose of this study was to compare and analyze the kinematics and kinetics differences during the landing phase of volleyball players using a single leg (SL) and double-leg landing (DL) following a spike shot. The data for vertical ground reaction forces (VGRF) and sagittal plane were collected. SPM analysis revealed that SL depicted a smaller knee flexion angle (about 13.8°) and hip flexion angle (about 10.8°) during the whole landing phase, a greater knee and hip power during the 16.83–20.45% (p = 0.006) and 13.01–16.26% (p = 0.008) landing phase, a greater ankle plantarflexion angle and moment during the 0–41.07% (p < 0.001) and 2.76–79.45% (p < 0.001) landing phase, a greater VGRF during the 5.87–8.25% (p = 0.029), 19.75–24.14% (p = 0.003) landing phase when compared to DL. Most of these differences fall within the time range of ACL injury (30–50 milliseconds after landing). To reduce non-contact ACL injuries, a landing strategy of consciously increasing the hip and knee flexion, and plantarflexion of the ankle should be considered by volleyball players.