Deceleration Profiles Between the Penultimate and Final Steps of Planned and Reactive Side-Step Cutting.
In many sports, athletes need to rapidly change direction, or "cut", to evade opponents or follow the play. However, cutting maneuvers, especially when unexpected, can lead to non-contact knee injuries like ACL tears. This study looked at how the amount of time athletes have to plan for a cut affects the way they slow down their body in preparation for the directional change.
College of Health researcher(s)
Abstract
Context
Noncontact anterior cruciate ligament injury often occurs during rapid deceleration and change-of-direction maneuvers. These activities require an athlete to generate braking forces to slow down the center of mass and change direction in a dynamic environment. During preplanned cutting, athletes can use the penultimate step for braking before changing direction, resulting in less braking demand during the final step. During reactive cutting, athletes use different preparatory movement strategies during the penultimate step when planning time is limited. However, possible differences in the deceleration profile between the penultimate and final steps of preplanned and reactive side-step cuts remain unknown.
Objective
To comprehensively evaluate deceleration during the penultimate and final steps of preplanned and reactive cutting.
Design
Cross-sectional study.
Setting
Laboratory.
Patients or Other Participants
Thirty-six women (age = 20.9 ± 1.7 years, height = 1.66 ± 0.07 m, mass = 62.4 ± 8.7 kg).
Intervention
Participants completed 90° side-step cutting maneuvers under preplanned and reactive conditions.
Main Outcome Measure(s)
Approach velocity, velocity at initial contact, and cutting angle were compared between conditions. Stance time, deceleration time, and biomechanical indicators of deceleration were assessed during the penultimate and final steps of preplanned and reactive 90° cuts. Separate repeated-measures analysis-of-variance models were used to assess the influence of step, condition, and their interaction on the biomechanical indicators of deceleration.
Results
Approach velocity (P = .69) and velocity at initial contact of the penultimate step (P = .33) did not differ between conditions. During reactive cutting, participants achieved a smaller cutting angle (P < .001). We identified a significant step-by-condition interaction for all biomechanical indicators of deceleration (P values < .05).
Conclusions
A lack of planning time resulted in less penultimate step braking and greater final step braking during reactive cutting. As a result, participants exhibited a decreased cutting angle and longer stance time during the final step of reactive cutting. Improving an athlete’s ability to respond to an external stimulus may facilitate a more effective penultimate step braking strategy that decreases the braking demand during the final step of reactive cutting.