Abstract
Background and Objective: Most lower limb injuries in basketball players involve anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tears. Evaluating knee valgus angle is necessary to assess knee injury risk. One of the risks that can lead to knee injury is dominant and non-dominant knee valgus due to the significant role of the foot in controlling posture and stability. This study aimed to compare the angle of superior patella with dynamic knee valgus patterns in basketball players with and without patellar fatigue protocol.
Methodology: In this study, 27 basketball players with dynamic knee valgus pattern (mean age = 20.77 ± 3.06 years, mean height = 1.88 ± 0.09 meters, mean weight = 79.68 ± 18.35 kilograms) in the age range of 16 to 26 years were purposively selected. To assess lower limb angles in both sagittal and frontal planes, imaging was performed using two digital cameras positioned at a distance of 366 centimeters and a height of 105 centimeters relative to the subject, and participants performed three countermovement jumps. The analysis was conducted using Kinovea software. The fatigue protocol in this study consisted of 40 minutes of basketball play, adhering to official regulations and including all rest periods.
Findings: The results of the paired t-test for intra-group comparison of the mean research variables showed that there was no significant difference between pre-test and post-test in the variable of initial contact valgus pattern of the dominant foot (p = 0.900), initial contact valgus pattern of the non-dominant foot (p = 0.134), maximum flexion valgus pattern of the dominant foot (p = 0.237), maximum flexion valgus pattern of the non-dominant foot (p = 0.188). Additionally, there was no significant difference between pre-test valgus pattern of initial contact of the dominant and non-dominant foot (p = 0.485) and post-test valgus pattern of initial contact of the dominant and non-dominant foot (p = 0.066). However, there was a significant difference between pre-test valgus pattern of maximum flexion of the dominant and non-dominant foot (p = 0.012) and post-test valgus pattern of maximum flexion of the dominant and non-dominant foot (p = 0.018), indicating that both in pre-test and post-test, the valgus pattern of maximum flexion of the dominant foot was greater than that of the non-dominant foot.
Conclusion: Based on the results of the present study, the fatigue protocol used did not increase knee valgus angle, but the valgus angle of the dominant foot was greater than that of the non-dominant foot in basketball players. Therefore, it is likely that the dominant foot in basketball players is more exposed to non-contact anterior cruciate ligament injuries.