Altered landing mechanics are shown by male youth soccer players at different stages of maturation.
Paul J Read, Jon L Oliver, Gregory D Myer and 3 others
PMID 30014967WHAT IT FOUND
Single-leg landing patterns differed by maturity in elite male youth soccer players.
Near peak height velocity, left-leg landing forces were higher relative to body mass than after peak height velocity. After peak height velocity, left-leg knee valgus was lower but trunk lean was greater.
Key findings
01Left-leg landing forces relative to body mass were higher in players near peak height velocity than in players after peak height velocity.
02On the left leg, players after peak height velocity showed less knee valgus than players before peak height velocity.
03Players after peak height velocity showed greater lateral trunk flexion during landing than the other maturity groups.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
The study was cross sectional, so it compares maturity groups at one time and cannot show that growth caused the landing changes or that the changes predict injury. No injury outcomes were measured, so the paper cannot say whether these landing patterns increased actual injury risk. The sample was limited to injury-free elite male soccer players in United Kingdom academies, so it does not speak to female players, recreational players, or players with current injury. Kinematics were measured with two-dimensional video and one rater, not three-dimensional motion analysis, so small joint angles may be less precise. Maturity was estimated from height equations with about 6 months error, and players near the category boundaries were removed from the 400 volunteers.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read these landing differences as proof that a training programme reduces injury. The study measured mechanics at one time and did not follow injuries.