Lower Extremity Motion Analysis Patterns During Various Foot-Landing Styles

Walking, running, and jumping are considered essential human movement activities that occur on a daily basis. In every landing task, the lower extremity needs to dissipate and absorb the energy that is created by the landing height. In addition, more dissipation is normally needed when landing from higher jumps, which increases the work that needs to be done by joints, muscles, and bones in order to prevent injury. Great amounts of load during a landing have the potential to induce injuries, particularly in the ankle and knee complex. In many sports, such as soccer, basketball, football, and volleyball, there is a constant demand for the lower extremity to perform landing tasks, as well as stopping and turning tasks. In such landing tasks, it can be observed that athletes differ in their techniques to jump and land. The purpose of this study was to analyze lower extremity motion patterns, during different foot position aspects (self-preferred, forefoot, and rear foot) while landing from a drop box of 30 cm height, during the stop-jump phase. The study aimed to quantify the kinematic data (knee flexion, knee valgus, ankle dorsi-flexion/plantarflexion, hip flexion) and the kinetic data ( vertical ground reaction force, proximal anterior tibial shear force) in order to quantify the lower extremity motion pattern variation within individuals and between the different foot-landing techniques, while landing from a drop box of 30 cm height, during the stop-jump phase. There was no significant difference between genders in most of the four instants (initial contact, peak vertical ground reaction force, peak knee flexion, peak proximal anterior tibial shear force), or in kinematic and kinetic variables. The greatest difference was found between techniques at the different instants. There was a significant difference in vertical ground reaction force at its peak value, where the rear foot technique presented the highest value, then the self-preferred, followed by the forefoot. It has long been believed that there are gender differences, but this study did not find gender differences, giving the direction of individual patterns as opposed to gender. Each individual, independently of their gender, seems to have a very specific landing pattern that will influence the kinematic and kinetic variables and energy absorption of a landing. These individual patterns are probably closely related to the individual's sports background and training, among other factors. It should be emphasized that landing on the heels can be a very harmful technique for the joints of the lower extremity. This technique is seen in some activities ( track and field sports, some basketball movements, etc.). Although performance is likely to be very important for the athlete, preventing injuries is just as important. Therefore, further studies should be recommended in order to attempt to establish a training program to teach athletes how to land and minimize the potential danger that arises from any jump, namely to use a forefoot landing strategy, while still maximizing performance. The self-preferred strategy should be evaluated in each individual, due to the fact that the sports background can be a major factor in each one's self-preferred jump-landing pattern.