Altered Peak Knee Valgus during Jump-Landing among Various Directions in Basketball and Volleyball Athletes

Purpose: excessive knee valgus during landing tasks is a contributing factor to knee injuries. most studies have examined lower extremity biomechanics during the forward direction of a jump-landing task. athletes perform many movements in the air and land in multi-directions. therefore, the purpose of this study was to assess the peak knee valgus angle (pkva) during one leg jump-landing in various directions. methods: eighteen male basketball and volleyball athletes participated in the study. participants performed one leg jump-landing tests from a 30 cm height platform in four directions. knee valgus motion was measured using vicon™ motion system. the data were analyzed with repeated measures anova. results: direction significantly (p<0.001) influenced the pkva during landing. significantly higher pkva was observed for the lateral (8.8°±4.7°) direction as compared to forward (5.8°±4.6°) direction (p<0.05). the pkva in 30° diagonal (7.5°±4.6°) and 60° diagonal (7.7°±5.7°) directions was higher than in the forward direction (p<0.05). conclusion: one leg jump-landing in lateral and diagonal directions results in a higher pkva compared to landing in a forward direction and could lead to a higher risk of knee injury.