No Relationship between Visual Reaction Time and High-Risk ACL Injury Biomechanics During Stroboscopic Vision in High-Performing Female Athletes

Many factors influence the risk that young, active individuals have in injuring their anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), including their ability to process and respond to visual information when performing sports-specific movements. The degree to which, and if, visual dependence influences these movements in certain individuals is unknown. The purpose of this study was to determine if a relationship exists between visual reaction time (VRT) and an increase in biomechanics associated with ACL injury during a single leg drop landing performed under stroboscopic, perturbed, vision (SV) compared to full vision. A population of ten healthy female athletes (basketball and soccer, 19.83 ± 2.89 yrs., 169.80 ± 7.57 cm, 66.76 ± 9.11 kg) was studied. Participants performed three trials of a single leg landing from a height of 0.3 m under full and SV conditions for each leg in a three-dimensional motion analysis lab. Vision testing was then performed with a head mounted eye-tracking device. Changes in peak knee flexion (pKF), peak internal knee extension moment (piKEM), and peak vertical ground reaction force (pVGRF) between vision conditions were used to quantify changes in at-risk biomechanical variables. VRT was calculated by the system and presented in milliseconds. The alpha level was set a priori at p ≤ 0.05. A paired t-test was performed to find differences in performance between full and stroboscopic visual conditions. There were no significant changes in pKF (p = 0.11), piKEM (p = 0.74), and pVGRF (p = 0.39) between conditions. Pearson correlations were performed for each biomechanical variable with VRT for each participant. No significant (p > 0.05) correlational relationships were found between VRT and changes in pKF (r = -0.496, p = 0.15), piKEM (r = -0.234, p = 0.95), and pVGRF (r = -0.0821, p = 0.82). Future studies should be performed with larger populations and the testing of relationships between other high-risk ACL injury biomechanical variables with VRT and other vision variables.No embargoAcademic Major: Health Sciences Progra