Reactive muscle firing of anterior cruciate ligament-injured females during functional activities.

OBJECTIVE The high incidence of noncontact anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries in females has attracted research to investigate the capacity of muscles to reflexively protect the knee joint from capsuloligamentous injury. Numerous reflex pathways link mechanoreceptors in the ACL with contractile fibers in the quadriceps and hamstring muscles. Loads placed on the ACL modify reactive muscle activity through the feed-back process of neuromuscular control and are critical for dynamic muscular stabilization. Noncontact ACL injuries may be the result of aberrations in reactive muscle firing patterns. Therefore, compensatory muscle activation strategies must be employed if functional stability is to be restored after injury or surgical reconstruction. The purpose of our study was to compare the amplitude of reactive muscle activity in females with ACL-deficient (ACLD), ACL-reconstructed (ACLR), and control knees during functional activities. DESIGN AND SETTING Female volunteer subjects were stratified into groups based on the status of their ACLs. Each subject performed 4 functional activities, bilaterally, during a single test session. SUBJECTS Twenty-four female subjects participated in this study (ACLD = 6, ACLR = 12, control = 6). MEASUREMENTS Integrated electromyographic (IEMG) data were collected with surface electrodes from the vastus medialis, vastus lateralis, medial hamstring, and lateral hamstring during downhill walking (15 degrees , 0.92 m/s), level running (2.08 m/s), and hopping and landing from a jump (20.3 cm). IEMG was normalized to the mean amplitude of 3 to 6 consecutive test repetitions. The mean area and peak IEMG of a 250-millisecond period after ground contact was used to represent reactive muscle activity. Side-to-side differences were determined using dependent t tests, and group differences were determined using a one-way analysis of variance. RESULTS During running, the ACLD group demonstrated significantly greater area and peak IEMG activity in the medial hamstring in comparison with the ACLR group and greater peak activity in the lateral hamstring when compared with the control group. The ACLD group also demonstrated greater peak activity in the vastus medialis and a smaller area of IEMG activity in the lateral hamstring than the control group during running. During landing, the ACLD group demonstrated significantly less area of IEMG activity in the vastus lateralis when compared with the control group. No significant differences were identified between the ACLR and control groups, nor were side-to side differences revealed. CONCLUSIONS Our results suggest that adaptations occur in the reactive muscle activity of ACLD females during functional activities. Strategies to minimize the anterior tibial translation in response to joint loading included increased hamstring activity and quadriceps inhibition. The reactive muscle activity exhibited in ACLD subjects is presumably an attempt to regain functional stability through the dynamic restraint mechanism. The absence of side-to-side differences suggests that these adaptations occur bilaterally after ACL injury.