PREDICTION OF KNEE KINEMATICS DURING A STOP JUMP-CUT MANEUVER USING TRUNK NEUROMUSCULAR CHARACTERISTICS AND KINEMATICS IN A HEALTHY, PHYSICALLY ACTIVE POPULATION

Non-contact anterior cruciate ligament injuries (ACL) persist in athletic populations despite years of research to mitigate such injuries. Core stability is purported to be essential in injury prevention, including ACL injury, by healthcare and fitness professionals; however, there is little research investigating this relationship. Examining the relationship between neuromuscular characteristics of core stability and knee kinematics identified to predict or be related to ACL injury may provide insight. The purpose of this study was to determine if trunk muscular strength, proprioception, and kinematics as well as sex could predict knee kinematics during a stop jump-cut maneuver (SJCM). \ud Fifty three healthy, physically active college-aged subjects participated (age: 22.0±2.1yrs; height: 172.5±8.4cm; weight: 71.6±10.4kg). Testing order for all subjects was: forward/lateral flexion trunk active joint position sense (AJPS), kinematic assessment during a SJCM, and isokinetic trunk extension/rotation strength. Dependent variables were knee valgus and flexion angles at initial contact (IC), total knee valgus excursion, and maximum knee flexion angle. Independent variables were: trunk extension and rotation average peak torque; trunk flexion and lateral flexion AJPS; trunk lateral displacement and trunk flexion angle at initial contact and maximum; and sex. Backwards stepwise linear regression was performed for each of the dependent variables with their respective, selected independent variables. \ud None of the independent variables were significant predictors for knee valgus angle at IC or maximum knee flexion angle. Trunk rotation strength towards the direction of the cut and sex were found to be significant predictors of total knee valgus excursion (R2=0.259, p=0.001), with lower trunk rotation strength and female sex predicting greater total knee valgus excursion. Trunk extension strength and sex were found to be significant predictors of knee flexion at IC (R2=0.282, p