Muscle contributions to tibiofemoral shear forces and valgus and rotational joint moments during single leg drop landing

Abstract

Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries commonly occur during single‐leg landing tasks and are a burdensome condition. Previous studies indicate that muscle forces play an important role in controlling ligamentous loading, yet these studies have typically used cadaveric models considering only the knee‐spanning quadriceps, hamstrings, and gastrocnemius muscle groups. Any muscles (including non‐knee‐spanning muscles) capable of opposing the anterior shear joint reaction force and the valgus joint reaction moment are thought to have the greatest potential for protecting the ACL from injury. Thus, the purpose of this study was to investigate how lower‐limb muscles modulate knee joint loading ..