The Kinematic and Kinetic Changes During Distracted Landing and Focused Landing Tasks in College-Aged, Female Soccer Players

Abstract

Soccer is one of the most popular sports in the world, and as it continues to grow in the female population there is a significant increase in leg injury risk. There are various biomechanical risk factors associated with leg injuries while landing, like higher vertical ground reaction force (vGRF). Training programs have been implemented to correct these mechanics, but the high injury rate observed in female soccer athletes questions how well the interventions transfer to game-like situations. A possible cause is that the focus of the athlete is directed internally during training instead of being externally focused on a game-like task. The purpose of this study was to determine the changes in lower extremity mechanics during a distracted landing task and a focused landing task in college-aged female soccer players. 27 participants were prepped for bilateral lower extremity 3D motion capture using two force plates. They performed 3 trials of 2 different landing tasks: the distracted landing condition and the focused landing condition. During the distracted landing, the participants landed with significantly decreased knee flexion (-13.05 ± 6.55° vs -19.26 ±7.41°) and significantly increased peak vGRF (1222.38 ± 253.53 N vs 1069.66 ± 253.11 N). The results suggest that an individual’s change in focus affects their mechanics when landing.