Knee Injury prevention in rugby players can be addressed through motion capture and plantar pressure ... surgical anterior cruciate ligament ... (VM), tensor fasciae latae (TFL), biceps femoris (BF), adductor longus (AL) were analysed;.
Knee Injury prevention in rugby players can be addressed through motion capture and plantar pressure analysis: a pilot study. 1,3 1 3 2 1 Davide Pavan , Fabiola Spolaor , Giorgio Sbrocco , Vittore Costa , Zimi Sawacha . 1 Department of Information Engineering, University of Padua, Padova, Italy 2 S. Antonio Hospital, ULSS 16, Padova, Italia 3 Italian Rugby Federation (FIR), Italy INTRODUCTION Due to the strength and the pace expected of a whole rugby’s playing season there is a higher chance of an injury occurring [1]. It has been proven that contact between players accounts for most of the injuries: in particular the occurrence of knee injury, being one of the most frequent, has been shown to be higher during the tackle [1]. The aim of this study was to determine if motion analysis and plantar pressure (PP) could efficiently identify subjects at risk of knee injury while tacking. METHODS 11 elite rugby players (University Team CUS Padova) participated in the study: 10 controls (CS), a single athlete (S) who had a surgical anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction. Mean ± standard deviation (SD) BMI and age were 2 respectively: 27.3±2 kg/m , 21.4±3 years. Subjects, after signing informed consent, performed 6 repeating tackles (Fig. 1) in the rugby field at 2 different heights between: the knee and the hip (KH) and the hip and the pelvis (HP); however in the present contribution only results of S and 6 CS’s HP tackles will be presented. Video sequences and PP distribution were acquired by means of a Novel Pedar system and 4 synchronized cameras (Logitech, C525); hence peak PP (PPP), peak vertical ground reaction force (PV), hip, knee and ankle joints kinematics were determined [2,3] and their position with respect to the tackle task evaluated with a purposely developed Matlab code (see Fig. 1). Specific features were tracked bilaterally directly on the motion sequences [2]: acromion, C7, L5, anterior iliac spine, lateral femoral epicondyle and malleolus, a point th on the shoes corresponding to the 5 metatarsal head, lateral homerus epycondile, styloideus process. S was examined also at the gaitlab through a 6 cameras stereophotogrammetric system (BTS, 60-120Hz), 8 channels EMG (FreeEmg BTS), a force plate (Bertec, FP4060). 3 repetitions of each tasks were performed: squat Jump with parallel feet (//), Squat Jump with the feet assuring 30° between each other, right (R) and left (L) single leg squat. Signals coming from the vastus medialis (VM), tensor fasciae latae (TFL), biceps femoris (BF), adductor longus (AL) were analysed; envelope’s peak and position within the squat were extracted. RESULTS Results were reported in Figure 1 in term of mean+-SD: joints kinematics, PPP, PV, EMG activation. DISCUSSION Preliminary results showed in S an attitude to protect the left knee while performing the tackle when compared to CG, confirmed by the EMG results where asymmetries in the activation of the muscles were revealed. Hence a physical activity protocol aiming at improving his leg abductors function was prescribed in order to compensate for reduced knee stability. REFERENCES [1] Dallalana RJ et al. American Journal of Sports Medicine 2007; 35(5): 818-830. [2] Magalhaes F et al. Journal of sports science & medicine 2013; 12(4): 660-667. [3] Sawacha Z et al. Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation 2012; 9-63.
