NEUROMUSCULAR PERFORMANCE-CHARACTERISTICS IN ELITE FEMALE ATHLETES

The purpose of this research was to identify possible predisposing neu romuscular factors for knee injuries, particularly anterior cruciate l igament tears in female athletes by investigating anterior knee laxity , lower extremity muscle strength, endurance, muscle reaction time, an d muscle recruitment order in response to anterior tibial translation. We recruited four subject groups: elite female (N = 40) and male (N = 60) athletes and sex-matched nonathletic controls (N = 40). All parti cipants underwent a subjective evaluation of knee function, arthromete r measurement of anterior tibial translation, isokinetic dynamometer s trength and endurance tests at 60 and 240 deg/sec, and anterior tibial translation stress tests. Dynamic stress testing of muscles demonstra ted less anterior tibial translation in the knees of the athletes (bot h men and women) compared with the nonathletic controls. Female athlet es and controls demonstrated more anterior tibial laxity than their ma le counterparts and significantly less muscle strength and endurance. Compared with the male athletes, the female athletes took significantl y longer to generate maximum hamstring muscle torque during isokinetic testing. Although no significant differences were found in either spi nal or cortical muscle reaction times, the muscle recruitment order in some female athletes was markedly different. The female athletes appe ared to rely more on their quadriceps muscles in response to anterior tibial translation; the three other test groups relied more on their h amstring muscles for initial knee stabilization.