KNEE JOINT LOADINGS OF ATHLETES PERFORMING THE SIDE-STEP CUTTING MANOEUVRES UNDER TWO DIFFERENT CONDITIONS

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine differences in knee joint loading of athletes performing the side-step cutting manoeuvres under two different conditions (fatigued vs. non-fatigued). Lower limb joint kinematics and kinetics of 12 inter-varsity soccer players (6 males and 6 females) performing side-step tasks in two conditions were quantified using 10 optical cameras and Kistler™ force-platform. Fatigue conditions elicited significantly higher sagittal knee joint loadings (Mext, FPeak_GRF_Z, FPeak_AP_GRF and ?°GRF_Z_IC) then non-fatigued suggesting that athletes when fatigued adopted different strategies to compensate the changes to their environment.