Biomechanical Comparison of Single- and Double-Leg Jump Landings in the Sagittal and Frontal Plane

Abstract

Background: Double-leg forward or drop-jump landing activities are typically used to screen for high-risk movement strategies and to determine the success of neuromuscular injury prevention programs. However, research suggests that these tasks that occur primarily in the sagittal plane may not adequately represent the lower extremity biomechanics that occur during unilateral foot contact or non–sagittal plane movements that are characteristic of many multidirectional sports. Purpose: To examine the extent to which lower extremity biomechanics measured during a jump landing on a double leg (DL) after a sagittal plane (SAG) movement is representative of biomechanics measured during single-leg (SL) or frontal plane (FRONT) jump landing tasks. Study Design: Controlled laboratory study. Methods: Lower extremity biomechanics were measured in 15 recreationally active females (mean age [±SD], 19.4 ± 2.1 years; mean height, 163.3 ± 5.9 cm; mean weight, 61.1 ± 7.1 kg) while performing SAGDL, SAGSL, FRONTDL, and FRONTSL jump landing tasks. Repeated-measures analyses of variance examined differences in lower extremity biomechanics between the 4 tasks, and linear regressions examined the extent to which an individual’s biomechanics during SAGDL were representative of their biomechanics during SAGSL, FRONTDL, and FRONTSL. Results: Lower extremity kinematics and kinetics differed by condition, with the SAGDL task generally eliciting greater hip and knee flexion angles and lower hip and knee forces than the other tasks ( P < .05). Although biomechanics during the SAGDL task were strongly associated with those during the FRONTDL task ( R2, 0.41-0.82), weaker associations were observed between SAGDL and single-leg tasks for hip kinematics ( R2, 0.03-0.25) and kinetics ( R2, 0.05-0.20) and knee abduction moments ( R2, 0.06-0.18) ( P < .05). Conclusion: Standard double-leg sagittal plane jump landing tasks used to screen for ACL injury risk and the effectiveness of ACL injury prevention programs may not adequately represent the lower extremity biomechanics that occur during single-leg activities. Clinical Relevance: These results support further investigation of single-leg multidirectional landings to identify high-risk movement strategies in female athletes playing multidirectional sports.