Document Type

Article

Publication Date

5-2018

Publication Title

Journal of Sports Science & Medicine

Volume

17

Issue

2

Pages

312-321

Abstract

Effects of knee alignment on the internal knee abduction moment (KAM) in walking have been widely studied. The KAM is closely associated with the development of medial knee osteoarthritis. Despite the importance of knee alignment, no studies have explored its effects on knee frontal plane biomechanics during stationary cycling. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of knee alignment and use of a toe clip on the knee frontal plane biomechanics during stationary cycling. A total of 32 participants (11 varus, 11 neutral, and 10 valgus alignment) performed five trials in each of six cycling conditions: pedaling at 80 rpm and 0.5 kg (40 Watts), 1.0 kg (78 Watts), and 1.5 kg (117 Watts) with and without a toe clip. A motion analysis system and a customized instrumented pedal were used to collect 3D kinematic and kinetic data. A 3 × 2 × 3 (group × toe clip × workload) mixed design ANOVA was used for statistical analysis (p < 0.05). There were two different knee frontal plane loading patterns, internal abduction and adduction moment, which were affected by knee alignment type. The knee adduction angle was 12.2° greater in the varus group compared to the valgus group (p = 0.001), yet no difference was found for KAM among groups. Wearing a toe clip increased the knee adduction angle by 0.95º (p = 0.005). The findings of this study indicate that stationary cycling may be a safe exercise prescription for people with knee malalignments. In addition, using a toe clip may not have any negative effects on knee joints during stationary cycling.

Comments

NOTE: The authors of published articles share the copyright of their article equally with Journal of Sports Science & Medicine and have the right to publish their articles in their University/Institute repository or in their personal websites.

© 2018 Journal of Sports Science and Medicine

Original Publication Citation

Guangping, S., Songning, Z., Bennett, H. J., Martin, J. C., Crouter, S. E., & Fitzhugh, E. C. (2018). Effects of knee alignments and toe clip on frontal plane knee biomechanics in cycling. Journal of Sports Science & Medicine, 17(2), 312-321.

ORCID

0000-0002-8526-7518 (Bennett)

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