The Effect of Playing Surface and Prior Anterior Cruciate Ligament Rupture on Tibiofemoral Acceleration
Open Access
- Author:
- Hathaway, Sara
- Area of Honors:
- Kinesiology
- Degree:
- Bachelor of Science
- Document Type:
- Thesis
- Thesis Supervisors:
- Ben Infantolino, Thesis Supervisor
Sandy Feinstein, Thesis Honors Advisor - Keywords:
- biomechanics
acl
muscle activation
athletes
acl reconstruction - Abstract:
- Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) injuries are one of the most common sports injuries amongst female athletes that result in an inability to play. Factors such as turf fields and a previous ACL tear increase the risk of ACL injury. Further risk is increased due to certain biomechanical and neuromuscular factors that females specifically possess. The purpose of this study was to identify the neuromuscular and biomechanical risk factors associated with ACL tears during a 120- degree cutting maneuver. Subjects included college aged (18-30) female athletes that currently participated in a sport that competes on turf fields. All levels were included (recreational, collegiate, intramural) as long as they currently participated. EMG was used to track muscle activation patterns and IMU was used to track tibiofemoral acceleration both inside the lab and outside on the turf field. The hypothesis was that there would be a difference in muscle activation as well as tibiofemoral acceleration between the affected leg (ACL reconstruction surgery leg) and unaffected leg. Furthermore, it was hypothesized that there would be increased quadricep to hamstring activation ratio as well as increased tibiofemoral acceleration between a turf and lab surface. Specifically, it was expected that the semimembranosus and biceps femoris would have a lower activation than the rectus femoris on both legs, but that the affected leg would see a higher quadricep to hamstring activation ratio than the unaffected leg. From this study, it was seen that there was a higher quadricep to hamstring activation ratio as well as higher femur to tibia acceleration between surfaces and limbs. It was concluded that a turf surface as well as previous ACL reconstruction surgery presents increased risk for possible ACL tears. The implications presented by this study include considering sport surfaces during rehabilitation and return-to-play guidelines as well as increase ACL injury preventions in exercises.