Obese Youth Demonstrate Altered Landing Knee Mechanics Unrelated to Lower-Extremity Peak Torque When Compared With Healthy Weight Youth
in Journal of Applied BiomechanicsObese (OB) youth demonstrate altered knee mechanics and worse lower-extremity performance compared with healthy weight (HW) youth. Our objectives were to compare sagittal plane knee landing mechanics between OB and HW youth and to examine the associations of knee and hip extension peak torque with landing mechanics in OB youth. Twenty-four OB and 24 age- and sex-matched HW youth participated. Peak torque was measured and normalized to leg lean mass. Peak knee flexion angle and peak internal knee extension moment were measured during a single-leg hop landing. Paired t tests, Pearson correlation coefficients, and Bonferroni corrections were used. OB youth demonstrated worse performance and lower knee extension (OB: 12.76 [1.38], HW: 14.03 [2.08], P = .03) and hip extension (OB: 8.59 [3.13], HW: 11.10 [2.89], P = .005) peak torque. Furthermore, OB youth demonstrated lower peak knee flexion angles (OB: 48.89 [45.41 to 52.37], HW: 56.07 [52.59 to 59.55], P = .02) and knee extension moments (OB: −1.73 [−1.89 to −1.57], HW: −2.21 [−2.37 to −2.05], P = .0001) during landing compared with HW youth. Peak torque measures were not correlated with peak knee flexion angle nor internal knee extension moment during landing in either group (P > .01). OB youth demonstrated altered landing mechanics compared with HW youth. However, no associations among peak torque measurements and knee landing mechanics were present.
Briggs, King, and Schmitt are with the Sports Medicine Research Institute, Jameson Crane Sports Medicine Institute, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, OH, USA. Briggs is also with the Department of Orthopaedics, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, OH, USA. Schmitt is also with the Division of Physical Therapy, School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, College of Medicine The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA. Spech and Paponetti are with the Doctor of Physical Therapy Program, School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA. McNally is with the Tampa Bay Rays Baseball Organization, St. Petersburg, FL, USA. Bout-Tabaku is with the Division of Pediatric Rheumatology, Sidra Medicine, Doha, Qatar; and the Weill Cornell Medicine–Qatar, Doha, Qatar.
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