Load Accommodation Strategies and Movement Variability in Single-Leg Landing

Our purpose was to examine changes in participant-specific single-leg landing strategies and intra-individual movement variability following alterations in mechanical task demands via external load and landing height. Nineteen healthy volunteers (15M, 4 F, age: 24.3 ± 4.9 y, mass: 78.5 ± 14.7 kg, height: 1.73 ± 0.08 m) were analyzed among 9 single-leg drop landing trials in each of 6 experimental conditions (3 load and 2 landing height) computed as percentages of participant bodyweight (BW, BW + 12.5%, BW + 25%) and height (H12.5% & H25%). Lower-extremity sagittal joint angles and moments (hip, knee, and ankle), vertical ground reaction forces (GRFz), and electrical muscle activities (gluteus maximus, biceps femoris, vastus medialis, medial gastrocnemius, and tibialis anterior muscles) were analyzed. Individual single-leg drop landing strategies were identified using landing impulse predictions and the Load Accommodation Strategies Model (James et al., 2014). Intra-individual movement variability was assessed from neuromechanical synergies extracted using single-case principal component analyses (PCA). Fewer contrasting single-leg landing strategies were identified among participants under greater mechanical task demands (p < .001) alongside lesser intra-individual movement variability (p < .001). These results reveal changes in movement control under greater mechanical task demands, which may have implications for understanding overuse injury mechanisms in landing.