Comparison of selected lateral cutting activities used to assess ACL injury risk

The purpose of this study was to compare the knee joint dynamics for males and females performing constrained cutting tasks to an unanticipated running and cutting maneuver. Sixteen male and 17 female recreational athletes were recruited to perform four cutting tasks; unanticipated run and cut (CUT), stride land and cut (SLC), far box-land and cut (FLC), and close box-land and cut (CLC). Three-dimensional knee joint kinematics and kinetics were recorded. Data were compared across gender and task with a 2 x 4 ANOVA (p < .05), and a factor analysis was performed to examine task relationships. There were significant group mean differences between the tasks and across genders. The factor analysis revealed high correlations between the three constrained tasks, but for variables typically associated with ACL injury risk there was a poor relationship to the CUT task. This was particularly true for the frontal plane variables. The constrained tasks were only moderately useful in predicting cutting mechanics.