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Warm-up effect on active and passive arthrometric assessment of knee laxity
J R Steele1, P D Milburn, G J Roger
1Department of Biomedical Science, University of Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia.
Objective:
To determine the influence of a warm-up protocol suitable for use in clinical settings on tibial displacement and muscle activity during arthrometric knee laxity assessment.
Design:
Intervention study in which the subjects served as their own controls.
Setting:
The Biomechanics Research Laboratory, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia.
Subjects:
Ten volunteers who reported no history of knee trauma or disease.
Intervention:
A warm-up consisting of 10 minutes of ergometer cycling (60rpm) followed by two sets of three hamstring muscle stretches.
Main Outcome Measures:
Outcome measures were: (1) anterior tibial translation and knee extension force assessed using a Dynamic Cruciate Tester for each subject's right knee during active and passive testing, and (2) intensity of quadriceps and hamstring muscle activity during knee laxity testing.
Results:
There was significantly less quadriceps activity after warm-up (t = 2.419, p = .039). However, there was no significant difference between anterior tibial translation, knee extension force, or hamstring muscle activity results before and after warm-up in either active or passive tests.
Conclusion:
A warm-up suitable for use in a clinical setting is not required before arthrometric assessment of knee laxity.