Christine Jimenez

Coach Kramer

ASM, Period 1

29 September 2017

ACL Risk Lab

Lab: Measuring Valgus Angle (Knee ABD)

Purpose: To investigate one risk factor for knee injury

Background: https://www.physio- pedia.com/Anterior_Cruciate_Ligament_(ACL)_Injury

Most ACL injuries are caused by internal rotations of the knee usually in non-contact situations.

If the athlete's knee is in one direction and suddenly changes, this will cause the quadriceps to

resist anymore flexion and attempt to protect the knee from injury. The Functional Valgus is the

unwanted body movements when a person jumps or pivots. As valgus loading of the knee is one

of the biggest contributors to an ACL injury, the knee rotates internally at the same time. When

the injury occurs and the ACL is torn, the tibia no longer has restraint to anterior translation.

Hypothesis: I think the women in the class will have a larger valgus angle than the men. I think

this will occur because women have wider hips than men which results in a larger valgus angle

when landing from a jump.

Procedure:

1.Step off a chair or box that's about 24 inches high. Land softly on the ground with two feet and

then immediately jump up.

2 Using Technique, film the landing and the jump. 3. Repeat 2 more times.

4. At the deepest part of the squat on the landing, measure the valgus angle of each knee
5. Record your measurements.

Data:

Analysis:

1. History: Griffin: 17, Male, currently has a slightly torn ACL on right knee ,Teddy: 17, Male,

severe ankle sprain, Christine: 17, Female, no significant injuries

2. The class average for the left leg is 8.5 degrees and for the right it is 9.3 degrees. Lilli had

the greatest of the class: 21 degrees on the left and 24 degrees on the right. Teddy and I had

the least out of the class with 2 degrees on the left.

3. The average angle for mens the left leg was 5 degrees, and 8.5 degrees for the right. For the

women, the average was 13.1 for the right and 10.2 for the left.
Conclusion: Overall my hypothesis was proved correct. From the data, for most of the results,

the women had larger valgus angles from the men. Some of the angles were smaller than the men

but overall the women had larger angles. Since there were only three women to six men, there

was less opportunity to prove that men have less valgus angle when landing from a jump. The

amount of knee ADB is great in ACL injuries because is has more elasticity internally which

causes more posterior tibial load resulting in a significant amount of knee ABD. My results

support my answer because since women have wider hips, their valgus angle will be greater just

as an ACL injury would cause. These two connect in which it displays in the data chart. To

reduce knee ADB, some exercises that the athlete could do are hip thrusts while laying down and

back in the air, correct form lunges, squats with a resistance band, and stretching the knee hip

flexors.