REDUCED MOVEMENT ADAPTABILITY IN SIDESTEPPING – A POSSIBLE SOURCE OF INJURY RISK

Adapting to different task constraints provides insight into how malleable an athlete’s movement dynamics are. The purpose of this pilot study was to investigate whether athletes can adequately change their preferred movement strategy during sidestepping when exposed to a manipulation task. Reduced movement adaptability was hypothesized to be one risk factor for ACL injuries. Fourteen male team sport athletes were investigated. The response to the manipulation task was intra-individual, with rearfoot strikers being less able to adapt their movement strategy and the resulting movement was even higher associated with ACL risk factors. Forefoot strikers were able to adapt their movement. This suggests, that athletes need to be investigated individually as group-based analyses might cover effects and that movement adaptability should be considered when evaluating injury risk