Landing mechanics between noninjured women and women with anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction during 2 jump tasks.

BACKGROUND: Women with anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction have different neuromuscular strategies than noninjured women during functional tasks after ligament reconstruction and rehabilitation.

HYPOTHESIS: Landing from a jump creates high loads on the knee creating dynamic instability in women with anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction, whereas noninjured women have stable knee landing mechanics.

STUDY DESIGN: Controlled laboratory study.

METHODS: Fifteen noninjured women and 13 women with anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction performed 5 trials of a single-legged 40-cm drop jump and 2 trials of a 20-cm up-down hop task. Multivariate analyses of variance were used to compare hip and knee joint kinematics, knee joint moments, ground-reaction forces, and electromyographic findings between the dominant leg in noninjured women and reconstructed leg in women with anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction.

RESULTS: No statistically significant differences between groups were found for peak hip and knee joint angles for the drop jump task. Statistically significant differences in neuromuscular activity (P = .001) and anterior-posterior knee shear forces (P < .001) were seen in women with anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction compared with noninjured women in the drop jump task. However, no statistically significant differences (P > .05) between groups were found for either peak hip and knee joint angles, peak joint kinetics, or electromyographic findings during the up-down hop task.

CONCLUSION: Women with anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction have neuromuscular strategies that allow them to land from a jump similar to healthy women, but they exhibit joint moments that could predispose them to future injury if they participate in sports that require jumping and landing.