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Soccer study explores factors that may link limb dominance to ACL injury risk

By Jordana Bieze Foster

Kinematic and kinetic differences between dominant and nondominant limbs during cutting in soccer players could help explain previous findings regarding limb dominance and anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury risk, according to research from Ball State University in Muncie, IN.

In 16 female collegiate soccer players who performed a cutting maneuver, investigators found significantly more internal knee rotation, knee flexion velocity, and peak knee absorption power during weight acceptance in the nondominant limb than in the dominant (kicking) limb. All three factors could increase strain on the ACL, according to Henry Wang, PhD, an assistant professor of exercise science at Ball State, who presented the findings in August at the annual ASB meeting.

In a study published in the August 2010 issue of the British Journal of Sports Medicine, researchers from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, MO, found that female soccer players were significantly more likely to sustain an ACL injury in the nondominant leg than the dominant leg.

Sources:

Brown S, Dickin C, Wang H. The relationship between leg dominance and knee mechanics during the cutting maneuver. Presented at the 36th annual meeting of the American Society of Biomechanics; Gainesville, FL; August 2012.

Brophy R, Silvers HJ, Gonzales T, Mandelbaum BR. Gender influences: the role of leg dominance in ACL injury among soccer players. Br J Sports Med 2010;44(10):694-697.

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