ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Relationship between landing strategy and patellar tendinopathy in volleyball

Rob W Bisseling¹, At L Hof¹, Steef W Bredeweg², Johannes Zwerver², Theo Mulder³

¹ Center for Human Movement Sciences, University Center for Sport, Movement and Health, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
² Center for Sports Medicine, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
³ Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW), Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Correspondence to:
MsR W Bisseling
Center for Human Movement Sciences, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen 9713 AV, The Netherlands; r.w.bisseling{at}rug.nl

Objective: The aetiology of patellar tendinopathy (jumper’s knee) remains unclear. To see whether landing strategy might be a risk factor for the development of this injury, this study examined whether landing dynamics from drop jumps differed among healthy volleyball players (CON) and volleyball players with a jumper’s knee. The patients with jumper’s knee were divided into an asymptomatic group with a previous jumper’s knee (PJK) and a symptomatic group with a recent jumper’s knee (RJK).

Methods: Inverse dynamics analyses were used to estimate lower extremity joint dynamics from 30, 50 and 70 cm drop jumps in the three groups (CON, n = 8; PJK, n = 7; RJK, n = 9). A univariate repeated measures analysis of variance was used to compare the different landing techniques.

Results: Data analysis of the landing dynamics revealed that PJK showed higher knee angular velocities (p<0.01), and higher ankle plantar flexion moment loading rate (p<0.01). Furthermore, strong tendencies of higher loading rate of vertical ground reaction force (p = 0.05) and higher knee extensor moment loading rate (p = 0.08) were found compared with CON. Higher values for peak knee moment, peak knee power and knee work (all p<0.01) were found for CON compared with RJK. The comparison of the two jumper’s knee groups yielded higher knee angular velocities (p<0.01), together with higher ankle plantar flexion and knee extensor moment loading rate (p<0.01 and p<0.05, respectively).

Conclusion: Where RJK used a landing technique to avoid high patellar tendon loading, PJK used a stiffer landing strategy, which may be a risk factor in the development of patellar tendinopathy.

Abbreviations: CON, control group; LR, loading rate; RJK, recent jumper’s knee; PJK, previous jumper’s knee; VGRF, vertical ground reaction force; VISA, Victorian Institute of Sport Assessment

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This article has been cited by other articles:

• Bisseling, R W, Hof, A L, Bredeweg, S W, Zwerver, J, Mulder, T (2008). Are the take-off and landing phase dynamics of the volleyball spike jump related to patellar tendinopathy?. Br. J. Sports. Med. 42: 483-489 [Abstract] [Full Text]