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JOURNAL
OF
SPORTS SCIENCE &
MEDICINE
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Research
article
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FRONTAL PLANE KNEE MOMENTS IN GOLF: EFFECT OF TARGET SIDE FOOT POSITION AT ADDRESS |
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Scott K. Lynn 
and Guillermo J. Noffal |
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California State University, Department of Kinesiology, Fullerton, CA, USA |
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© Journal of Sports Science and Medicine (2010) 9, 275 - 281 |
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| ABSTRACT | |||
| Golf has the potential to keep people active well into their later
years. Injuries to the target side knee have been reported in golfers, yet
no mechanisms for these injuries have been proposed. The loads on the knee
during the golf swing may be insufficient to cause acute injury, yet they
may be a factor in the progression of overuse/degenerative conditions; therefore,
research developing swing modifications that may alter loading of the knee
is warranted. It has been suggested that the proper golf set-up position
has the target-side foot externally rotated but no reasoning for this modification
has been provided. Frontal plane knee moments have been implicated in many
knee pathologies. Therefore, this study used a 3-dimensional link segment
model to quantify the frontal plane knee moments during the golf swing in
a straight (STR) and externally rotated (EXT) target-side foot position.
Subjects were 7 collegiate golfers and knee moments were compared between
conditions using repeated measures T-tests. The golf swing knee moment magnitudes
were also descriptively compared to those reported for two athletic maneuvers
(drop jump landing, side-step cutting) and activities of daily living (gait,
stair ascent). The EXT condition decreased the peak knee adduction moment
as compared to the STR condition; however, foot position had no effect on
the peak knee abduction moment. Also, the magnitude of the knee adduction
moments during the two activities of daily living were 9-33% smaller than
those experienced during the two different golfing conditions. The drop
jump landing and golf swing knee moments were of similar magnitude (STR=
- 5%, EXT= + 8%); however, the moments associated with side- step cutting
were 50-71% larger than those on the target side knee during the golf swing.
The loading of the target side knee during the golf swing may be a factor
in the development and progression of knee pathologies and further research
should examine ways of attenuating these loads through exercise and swing
modifications.
Key words: Golf, ACL injury, biomechanics, knee abduction (valgus) moment/torque, knee adduction (varus) moment/torque, knee osteoarthritis. |
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