THREE DIMENSIONAL BIOMECHANICAL ANALYSIS OF THE KNEE JOINT DURING ANTICIPATED AND UNATICIPATED CUTTING MANOEUVRES IN MALE FIELD HOCKEY PLAYERS

Abstract

Cutting manoeuvres, especially in field sports, are essential athletic movements to improve performance, but are often cited as one of the primary mechanisms for non-contact lower limb injury. The aim of this study is to develop a three dimensional biomechanical understanding of the mechanisms underpinning non-contact knee injury prevention, during game specific anticipated and unanticipated cutting manoeuvres, in male field hockey players. A CODA motion analysis system was used to determine knee joint kinematics of 8 healthy male university level field hockey players during 45° anticipated and unanticipated cutting manoeuvres in conjunction with a force plate that collected ground reaction force (GRF) values. In the anticipated trial conditions, peak GRF and rate loading in the vertical plane displayed an 11.85% and 35.08% increase, while horizontal braking peak GRF and rate of loading values increased by 21.09% and 27.82%, respectively. Participants experienced a 25.93% increase in knee flexion angle, 9.11% increase in abduction and 34.8% and 23.09% reduction in internal and external rotation, respectively, in the anticipated trial conditions. In the unanticipated trial conditions, participants displayed a 7.37% increase in peak medial lateral force. The mechanics of the lower extremities of participants in the current study displayed increased values of peak internal/external rotation, and a decrease in peak knee flexion and abduction compared to previous research investigating cutting technique in different field sports. This may be due to variations in external risk factors in field sports, contributing to different biomechanical cutting technique and therefore variations in knee joint loading. Future research should investigate the effects of different environmental cutting conditions on lower limb external joint loading, as well as quantify the contribution of musculature and ligaments surrounding the knee joint, on knee joint loading.