The Effect of Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury and Reconstruction on Lower Extremity Biomechanics, Coordination, and Variability
Public Deposited- Last Modified
- March 22, 2019
- Creator
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Goerger, Benjamin McMillen
- Affiliation: School of Medicine, Department of Allied Health Sciences, Curriculum in Human Movement Science
- Abstract
- Individuals that suffer an ACL injury, and undergo reconstructive surgery are at an increased risk for the development of osteoarthritis and a secondary ACL injury. However, there is no information other than case studies, that has documented the effect of ACL injury on lower extremity biomechanics and coordination, and few studies have assessed asymmetry in these measures relative to noninjured individuals. The purpose of this study was to determine if lower extremity biomechanics and coordination are altered by ACL injury. A second purpose was to determine if differences in bilateral asymmetry in lower extremity biomechanics, coordination, and variability for those with ACL injury are greater than those with no injury. Following ACL injury, we observed an increase in knee valgus (F(2,66) = 3.957, p = 0.024) and hip adduction (F(2,66) = 3.773, p = 0.028) at Initial Ground Contact for both the injured and noninjured limb, as well as a decrease in peak knee varus (F(2, 66) = 5.198, p = 0.008). An increase in peak knee valgus was also observed in the noninjured limb (F(2,66) = 3.768, p = 0.028). This was associated with a decrease in peak knee extension moment (F(2,66) = 4.509, p = 0.015), peak hip flexion moment (F(2,66) = 3.847, p = 0.026), and peak anterior tibial shear force (F(2,66) = 4.530, p = 0.014) for the injured limb. In addition, we observed an alteration in coordination of hip and knee transverse plane motion for the injured limb following ACL injury (F(2,65) = 4.398, p = 0.016). The only differences we observed for asymmetry was for those with ACLR to have greater asymmetry for peak internal knee flexion moment (ZKS = 1.42, p = 0.035) and peak vertical ground reaction force (ZKS = 1.45, p = 0.031). We did not observe any significant difference in asymmetry of lower extremity coordination or variability between groups. Our findings provide evidence for how ACL injury and ACLR may increase an individual's risk for a second ACL injury and the development of osteoarthritis.
- Date of publication
- August 2012
- DOI
- Resource type
- Rights statement
- In Copyright
- Advisor
- Padua, Darin A.
- Degree
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Degree granting institution
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- Graduation year
- 2012
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