Is the Rotatory Knee Stability Immediately Decreased Following a Competitive Soccer Match?

Fatigue induced by soccer playing increases physical efforts, which might alter the transverse knee stability, a known factor that promotes knee injuries, particularly anterior cruciate ligament injury. Thereby, primarily, we aimed to determine whether rotatory knee stability decreases immediately following a competitive soccer match in amateur players. Furthermore, we assessed the role of the preferred and non-preferred limbs to kick a ball in rotatory knee stability and the correlation between performance parameters and rotatory knee stability. We hypothesized that the knee stability decreases immediately after a competitive soccer match in amateur players. Eight healthy amateur soccer players (aged 27.2 +/- 4.7 years and with body mass index of 23.8 +/- 1.2 kg m(-2)) were included immediately before and after a competitive soccer match. The rotatory knee stability was assessed in the preferred and non-preferred limbs through the acceleration and jerk of the pivot shift maneuver and by the internal knee rotation of a pivoting landing task. Two-way repeated-measures ANOVA for factors time (before and after the soccer match) and limb (preferred and non-preferred) and multiple comparisons were performed using alpha = 5%. There was a statistical significance for the main factor time in the acceleration (5.04 vs. 6.90 ms(-2), Delta = 1.86 ms(-2), p = 0.020, eta(2) = 0.331) and jerk (18.46 vs. 32.10 ms(-2), Delta = 13.64 ms(-2), p = 0.004, eta(2) = 0.456) of the pivot shift maneuver. Rotatory stability decreases following a competitive soccer match in amateur soccer players under fatigue. Both the acceleration and jerk during the pivot shift maneuver is increased without significant internal knee rotation changes during the pivoting landing task.

Automated summary

Fatigue induced by soccer playing can decrease rotatory knee stability, increasing the risk of knee injuries. This study aimed to determine the immediate effects of a competitive soccer match on rotatory knee stability in amateur players and investigate the influence of preferred and non-preferred limbs on knee stability. The results showed that rotatory knee stability decreased after a soccer match, with increased acceleration and jerk during the pivot shift maneuver.