Preferred Hip Strategy During Landing Reduces Knee Abduction Moment in Collegiate Female Soccer Players.

CONTEXT: Hip-focused interventions are aimed to decrease frontal plane knee loading related to anterior cruciate ligament injuries. Whether a preferred hip landing strategy decreases frontal plane knee loading is unknown.
OBJECTIVE: To determine if a preferred hip landing strategy during a drop vertical jump (DVJ) is utilized during a single-leg landing (SLL) task and whether differences in frontal plane knee loading are consistent between a DVJ and an SLL task.
DESIGN: Descriptive laboratory study.
SETTING: Research laboratory. PARTICIPANTS: Twenty-three collegiate, female soccer players. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Participants were dichotomized into a hip (HIP; n = 9) or knee/ankle (KA; n = 14) strategy group based on the percentage distribution of each lower extremity joint relative to the summated moment (% distribution) during the DVJ. Separate 1-way analysis of variances examined the differences in joint-specific % distribution and external knee abduction moment between the HIP and KA groups.
RESULTS: The HIP group had significantly greater % distribution of hip moment and less % distribution of knee moment compared with the KA group during the DVJ and SLL. External knee abduction moment was also significantly less in the HIP group compared with the KA group during the DVJ.
CONCLUSIONS: Female soccer athletes who land with a preferred hip strategy during a DVJ also land with a preferred hip strategy during an SLL. The preferred hip strategy also resulted in less external knee abduction moments during the DVJ. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Targeting the neuromuscular control of the hip extensor may be useful in reducing risk of noncontact anterior cruciate ligament injuries.