Julia Kar and Peter M. Quesada
Biomechanics, Anterior Cruciate Ligament, Numerical Computation, Forward Dynamics
Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) injuries are commonly incurred by recreational and professional female athletes during noncontact drop-jump maneuvers in sports like basketball and volleyball. Female athletes also have higher incidences of incurring noncontact ACL injuries than males. Despite the above, scientific techniques for predicting ACL loads and strains during athletic activities (in females and males) are almost non-existent. In this article we present a new scheme for investigating the mechanical properties of the knee and ACL during noncontact drop jump activities performed by young female recreational athletes. Increasing drop jump height was chosen as the primary means of achieving parametric variation. We used a combination of motion capture, subject-specific musculoskeletal models, Inverse Kinematics (IK), Computed Muscle Control (CMC) and Forward Dynamics simulation to facilitate computation of ACL loads and strains during landing. Our results showed increases in several dynamic variables, such as ACL loads and strains and knee abduction (valgus) angles, with increases in jump height. Changes were also found in knee moments and flexion angles.
Important Links:
Go Back
