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See, that’s what the app is perfect for.

Sounds perfect Wahhhh, I don’t wanna
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secretlyatoyotaprius

Honestly a huge shoutout to everyone who had to stop doing what they love.

Shoutout to people who had to stop playing music and drawing because of arthritis.

Shoutout to people who loved to go hiking but can’t because of chronic fatigue.

Shoutout to everybody who’s ever had their health steal something they loved from them. Yall are so beautiful and worthwhile and I love you.

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anarticleaweek

A Cutting Technique That Can Minimize ACL Risk

So….my parents came all the way from New Jersey to Ohio to spend the weekend/week with me so the next few posts are going to be short and sweet however the posts/articles reviewed still have very valuable information so I suggest you read the articles for more in depth information because they are interesting!

Title: Sidestep Cutting Technique and Knee Abduction Loading: Implications for ACL Prevention Exercises Authors: E Kristianslund, O Faul, R Bahr, G Myklebust, T Krosshaug Journal: Journal of Sports Medicine Year: 2014

Overview

ACL injury prevention has been a hot topic in sports medicine for the last few years. It is an accepted fact that knee abduction during dynamic tasks increase ACL injury risk. Cutting and deceleration tasks are the primary mechanisms of injury to ACLs. This article looks closer at the kinematics/kinetics of a 30 degree side step cut (typical cut athlete’s make in games to “lose” the defender) to find out which components of a cut increase knee abduction moments thus increasing ACL injury risk.

What Makes Up A Cutting Task?

The researches looked at the following as part as a ‘cut’:

  1. Knee Valgus
  2. Knee Flexion
  3. Hip Abduction
  4. Hip Internal Rotation
  5. Trunk Lateral Flexion (relative to the pelvis)
  6. Torso Rotation and Speed of Torso Rotation
  7. Speed going into the cut
  8. Foot Rotation (relative to direction of movement)
  9. Toe landing
  10. Cutting Angle
  11. Contact phase/”Cutting Time”
  12. Cutting Width

The Ground Reaction Force (GRF) and knee abduction angle were also measured.

Results

After breaking down the cutting tasks of 123 handball athletes in the lab, the researches found the following components most importance in decreasing the knee abduction moment:

  1. Decrease knee valgus
  2. Toe Landing vs. Flat Foot Landing
  3. Cut Width: when athlete plants front foot to cut in opposite direction the foot should be under the body close to center of mass instead of out wide (picture at bottom of entry helps explain specific variables)

Speed of approach was thought to increase knee abduction moments when initially looking at the data however with further investigation (and some ground reaction force physics) they determined that body alignment was more important than speed. This finding is important because it means an athlete can go as fast as possible, and not sacrifice performance, and not be at increased risk of tearing their ACL, just as long as their mechanics are sound.

Clinical Implications:

In ACL rehab as well as injury prevention courses/classes, proper cutting form should be taught and practiced repetitively in both directions. The cut should include minimal knee valgus of planted foot, a toe landing and narrow base/cut width close to center of mass.

Coaches should also be informed of this proper/safe cutting form because they are the ones teaching these kids at a young age how to cut in a game. This cutting form will be carried through the athletes career, so the younger we can teach this safe movement pattern the better.


image


Citation: Kristianslund E, Faul O, Bahr R, Myklebust G, Krosshaug T. Sidestep cutting technique and knee abduction loading: implications for ACL prevention exercises. Br J Sports Med. 2014;48(9):779-83.

ACL ACLInjuryRisk Injuryprevention movementpatterns move sportsmedicine athlete cutting
anarticleaweek

Intro to My Blog

Hey readers!

My name is Cristina and I am a Doctor of Physical Therapy with my degree from University of Miami (go canes!). I have been practicing for 6 months now in an outpatient orthopedic clinic. University of Miami did an excellent job at instilling the importance of evidence based practice in their students. I enjoy reading recent research because it not only allows you to perform the best possible patient care but it also allows you to answer patient questions with the utmost confidence, and you have the proof to back up your answer.

With a busy work schedule and personal life, I know it can be difficult to be disciplined and stay on top of the current research out there. I created this page, mostly for selfish reasons, to prompt me to read multiple articles a week so I am aware of the current literature in PT. I figured, why not make a page so other clinicians can reference topics and articles quickly?

So here I go……

I am going to attempt to stay on schedule with a different topic each day of the week.

Monday: Knee
Tuesday: Back Pain/Spine
Wednesday: Shoulder
Thursday: Foot and Ankle
Friday: TGIF! Wild Card

This schedule is temporary. Going to try it it to see how it flows and may end up changing the topics once the blog is up and running.

Each entry will have the following information:

1. Type of Research/Level of Evidence
2. Summary of subjects used, methods, results
3. Conclusion/Bottom Line/Clinical Relevance
4. Article Grade: A, B, C (this is strictly based on my opinion and critique of article depending on different aspects such as type of study, sample size, methods etc.)

Before wrapping up this entry, I would like to disclose that this blog and it’s contents have absolutely nothing to do with the practice I work for or the company views. This is just for fun and a place for me to write about what I am reading.

I will be kicking off the first entry on Monday April 4th! Thanks for visiting and happy researching!!

physical therapy evidence based practice orthopedic