Hey Folks,
I've received a number of resource articles from various readers. Here is one I thought I would pass on since I think research in this area would help us all out:
- This article was passed on to me by Jane Logan
- The Effect of Technique Change on Knee Loads during Sidestep Cutting. by Dempsey et. al. from the Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise Journal, 39(10) 1765-1773
- The article is about a study on side step cuts and how different technique (like body lean, foot angle, etc.) result in varying loads on the knee. The goal is to find the proper technique to make a cut, which reduces knee strain and thus reduces the number of non-contact ACL tears. I like this path of study as it might give us athletes and coaches insight on how to cut safely on the field.
Pictured Above: A layout shot from the Mixed finals at UPA Championships 07.
3 comments:
I think I kept a copy of the article, so if you can't access the journal and want to read it let me know.
jane DOT logan AT gmail DOT com.
The Abstract is long so here's the conclusion... still need to find out what "foot wide" means:
Conclusion: Sidestep cutting technique had a significant effect on loads experienced at the knee. The techniques that produced higher valgus and internal rotation moments at the knee, such as foot wide, torso leaning in the opposite direction to the cut and torso rotating in the opposite direction to the cut, may place an athlete at higher risk of injury because these knee loads have been shown to increase the strain on the anterior cruciate ligament. Training athletes to avoid such body positions may result in a reduced risk of noncontact anterior cruciate ligament injures.
Okay, so my summary of how top plant to relieve knee stress based on the article (feel free to correct):
1. Turn towards your cutting direction with everything you've got:
- Start off running in direction A, getting ready to turn towards direction B
- twist from the torso from A to B before you turn your leg
- make sure your planting foot is rotated as far towards B as possible; do not turn towards B with your foot still pointing at A;
- pull your torso away from a lean towards A and lean back/towards B as you turn
2. Keep your planting leg in- do not extend your planting leg way out of your body; plant close to your midline and turn.
Of course, they haven't shown that these steps actually reduce risk, just that NOT doing them increases stress correlated with ACL injury.
The tighter you can make your body when you plant (foot close to midline of the body
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