Investigation of the Higher Incidence of Anterior Cruciate Ligament Tears in Female Athletes Using Single-Camera Motion Analysis System

open_access
Open Access
Author:
Croushore, Nicole
Area of Honors:
Mechanical Engineering
Degree:
Bachelor of Science
Document Type:
Thesis
Thesis Supervisors:
Yi Wu, Thesis Supervisor
Yi Wu, Thesis Honors Advisor
Barukyah Shaparenko, Faculty Reader
Keywords:
Anterior Cruciate Ligament
Motion Analysis
Anterior Drawer Force
Abduction/Adduction Angles
External/Internal Rotation
Biomechanics
Abstract:
The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is a structure in the knee joint that runs from the tibia to the femur. The devastating injury of the ligament is common among all athletes; however, female athletes are six times more likely to tear their ACL than male athletes. Researchers believe that this may be due to biomechanical, anatomical, and hormonal differences between males and females, but no definite conclusion has been drawn as to why females are so much more at high for ACL tears. The aim of this thesis is to determine if there are biomechanical differences in jump mechanics between female and male athletes that are contributing to this difference in injury occurrence rate. This was analyzed using a single-camera motion analysis system to test 19 Penn State Behrend athletes, 8 males and 11 females. The athletes wore markers and performed a double-foot jump on a force sensor and were recorded using a GoPro camera. Using the trajectories of the markers, a calibration system, and the force plate data, the forces, moments, and angles of rotations at the knee joint were determined for each athlete. Five loading scenarios were considered which were anterior drawer forces, external/internal rotation moments, medial/lateral forces, abduction/adduction angles, all at small flexion angles, and abduction/adduction moment at large flexion angles. Overall, there were no statistically significant differences between males and females at any of these loading scenarios at a 95% confidence level. However, there are trends in the data that show females may be at a higher risk for ACL tears due to higher-risk loading scenarios than the males. These trends and additional loading scenarios should be analyzed with a larger sample size to conclude if there are any statistical differences in biomechanics between males and females.