The Relationship Between Sociocultural Factors And Gender-specific Movement Patterns During Low And High-intensity Movement Tasks

Women exhibit a higher incidence of non-contact anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries versus men. Gender-specific sociocultural factors (GSSF) may contribute to ACL injury risk PURPOSE: This study explored the relationship between GSSF and movement patterns during low-intensity daily tasks (LIT) and high-intensity tasks (HIT). METHODS: Eighteen healthy cis-gender women (18-30 years) completed 3 trials of unilateral (single-leg stand-to-sit, single-leg drop vertical jump [DVJ]) and bilateral (stand-to-sit, DVJ) LIT and HIT. Outcome measures included three-dimensional hip and knee kinematics. Pearson correlations between mean hip and knee angles during LIT and HIT were incorporated. Scores on the Gender Role Socialization Scale (GRSS) and Trait Self-Objectification Scores (TSOS) assessed GSSF. Spearman correlations between hip and knee kinematics and GRSS and TSOS scores were included. RESULTS: Strong positive correlations (Pearson’s r ranging from 0.77 to 0.86; each p < .001) were found between dominant hip or knee kinematics in the frontal and transverse planes during bilateral and single-leg LIT and HIT. Moreover, moderate positive correlations were found between non-dominant knee kinematics in the frontal and transverse planes during bilateral HIT (DVJ, r = 0.64; p = .004) and single-leg LIT (stand-to-sit task; r = 0.69; p = .001). Frontal plane non-dominant hip kinematics during bilateral stand-to-sit (r = 0.40, p = .28) and transverse plane dominant knee kinematics during single-leg stand-to-sit (r = 0.41, p = .1029) demonstrated moderate positive correlations with TSOS. Additionally, a moderate negative correlation was observed between TSOS scores and sagittal plane dominant hip kinematics during the single-leg stand-to-sit LIT (r = -0.44, p = .102). There were no significant correlations between task performance and GRSS scores. CONCLUSION: Using LITs may be a novel low-impact tool in early ACL injury risk identification in women. Additionally, higher levels of self-objectification appear associated with altered hip and knee movement. Future research can examine the implications of these results on injury rates and the influence of other GSSF on movement control.