Article

Cutting is necessary for participation in multidirectional sports but is also
associated with non-contact ACL injury. Whole body demands of deceleration and
redirection increase with greater cut angles. However, it is not known how these
demands relate to differences in joint and segmental mechanics. Understanding the
relationship between whole body and joint mechanics necessary for cutting and
those related to risk for injury is important for the development of injury
prevention training programs. The purpose of this study is to determine how joint
and segmental mechanics change to meet increasing deceleration and redirection
demands during cutting. Lower limb and trunk kinematics and kinetics were
evaluated during the execution of two sidestep cutting maneuvers (to 45 and 90
degrees) in twenty-five healthy soccer players. A two-way multivariate analysis
of covariance (MANCOVA) determined that differences existed between task
directions but not sexes when considering all dependent variables and covarying
for approach velocity (alpha</=0.05). Post hoc analyses revealed that the larger
deceleration and redirection demands of the 90-degree cut did not translate into
larger angles, moments and power across all lower extremity joints. In the
sagittal plane, the knee appeared to primarily accommodate the greater
deceleration demands of the sharper cut. These data further suggest that the hip
may play a different role during cutting to smaller and larger angles and also
illustrate a pattern of engagement in the sagittal and frontal planes that has
not been described previously.
CI - Copyright (c) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Langue : ANGLAIS