Differentiating Successful and Unsuccessful Single-Leg Drop Landing Performance Using Uncontrolled Manifold Analysis

Biomechanical analysis can effectively identify factors associated with task performance and injury risk, but often does not account for the interaction among the components that underlie task execution. Uncontrolled manifold (UCM) analyses were applied to data from 38 female, adolescent athletes performing single-leg drop landings and were used to differentiate successful and unsuccessful task performance by examining the frontal plane joint variance within the UCM (VUCM) that stabilized the horizontal center of mass position (VUCM) and within the orthogonal subspace (VORT). The UCM revealed stronger coordination, indicated by the VUCM/VORT ratio, in the successful condition. This may inform future research examining reduced motor coordination in failed movement tasks and its relation to injury risk and allow for targeted interventions that consider coordination processes rather than joint-specific outcomes.