Open Foot Stance Reduces Lead Knee Joint Loading During Golf Swing

Area of Science:

• Sports Biomechanics
• Golf Injury Prevention

Background:

• Lead knee joint biomechanics in amateur golfers remain understudied.
• The influence of foot stance and club type on golf-related knee injuries is not well understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the relationship between foot stance (straight vs. open) and club type (driver, 3, 6, 9 iron) on lead knee joint biomechanics in amateur golfers.
• To identify biomechanical factors associated with lead knee injury risk during the golf swing.

Main Methods:

• 16 male amateur golfers performed swings with 2 stances and 4 club types.
• Motion capture and force plates analyzed lead knee kinematics and kinetics.
• Custom software calculated joint translations, rotations, forces, and torques.

Main Results:

• The open stance significantly reduced lead knee translations, rotations, forces, and torques compared to the straight stance across all club types.
• Specifically, the open stance decreased rotation motion (-28%), compressive force (-5%), and rotation torque (-9%).
• The driver club exhibited higher values for most measured biomechanical parameters compared to irons.

Conclusions:

• An open foot stance is biomechanically advantageous for reducing stress on the lead knee joint during the golf swing.
• Monitoring lead knee joint biomechanics is recommended for amateur golfers to mitigate injury risk, particularly when using longer clubs like the driver.