Relationship Between Knee Valgus and Landing Biomechanics

Although interest in identifying injury risk factors has increased recently, it has been stated that adolescent athletes are especially vulnerable to injury. Such sex-based differences that may explain the increased risk of anterior cruciate ligament injury in girls compared with boys include anatomical, biomechanical, neuromuscular, and hormonal differences. A broad range of physiological mechanisms (e.g., hormone control, differences in joint geometry, collagen turnover, etc.) play a role in lower extremity injuries and may explain these sex differences. Basketball, one of the sports preferred by adolescent girls, brings with it high risks of injury due to the high participation rate among team sports. As a result of the studies, it was revealed that 7 to 10 people out of every 1000 were injured. 16% of female basketball players are at risk of anterior cruciate ligament injury during their careers, and this rate is 2 to 4 times higher than that of men. The occurrence of lower extremity injuries such as anterior cruciate ligament injuries and patellofemoral pain during dynamic activities (e.g., landing, running, etc.) has been associated with dynamic knee valgus. A common malalignment that may occur in the lower extremities during sports activities is dynamic knee valgus, which has been suggested as the underlying mechanism of knee injury. Dynamic knee valgus involves a combination of knee abduction, tibial internal rotation, and hip adduction. Numerous studies associate core muscle weakness with lower extremity malalignment. Changes in the trunk-pelvis-hip complex can lead to dynamic knee valgus, a dysfunction that also appears to be influenced by factors such as gender, physical activity level, and body mass index. In post-jump landing biomechanics, limitations in ankle dorsiflexion joint range of motion are considered a modifiable injury risk factor for athletes. Ankle dorsiflexion during landing helps reduce ground reaction forces and facilitates knee and hip flexion in the sagittal plane. It has been shown that decreased ankle dorsiflexion joint range of motion limits peak flexion angles of the ankle, knee, and hip and increases peak knee abduction angles during descent. This situation shows the relationship between ankle dorsiflexion joint range of motion and frontal plane projection angle. This study aims to examine the correlation between landing biomechanics, core endurance and ankle dorsiflexion angle in adolescent female basketball players with dynamic knee valgus. It was hypothesized that participants with greater knee valgus had poor core stabilization ability and limited dorsiflexion angle.

Inclusion criteria

• Having been training basketbol for at least 6 months,
• Being between the ages of 10-19
• Being female
• Having an increase of 10 degrees or more in the frontal plane projection angle (for the valgus group)
• Having a frontal plane projection angle at normal values (for the control group)
• No active pain in the lower extremity
• No mental and psychological problems

Exclusion criteria

• Non-volunteer athletes
• Having a body mass index of 30 kg/m² and above
• Having undergone lower extremity surgery
• Having chronic knee instability.
• Having had a meniscus or ligament injury
• Having a cardiac, musculoskeletal, vestibular and neurological disease
• Having been using corticosteroids and nonsteroidal drugs for a long time.
• Being pregnant.