VERTICAL REACTION FORCE AND KINEMATICAL ANALYSIS OF DROP LANDING MOVEMENT IN OBESE AND NORMAL SUBJECTS

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: During the landing moment, the maximum knee flexion angle of 90 degree is considered as the standard, and deviation from this is considered as either stiff or soft landing (DeVita & Skelly, 1992). It’s been reported that the increased risk of injury during landing activities is related to the subjects’ physical and physiological characteristics such as gender, weight and age facilitating different landing strategies (Decker, Torry, Wyland, Sterett & Steadman, 2003). Especially, weight differences result in diverse landing strategies to prevent lower extremities injuries. The purpose of this study was to compare the vertical reaction force and kinematical factors of landing movement between obese and normal subjects.