Effect of Dynamic Taping on Landing Biomechanical Characteristics in Volleyball and Basketball Players With Symptoms of Patellar Tendinopathy

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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Patellar tendinopathy (PT) is an overuse injury associated with loading activities, and popular among basketball and volleyball players. Although altered biomechanical characteristics during landing has been suggested as one of the risk factors for the development of PT, previous evidence failed to show the link between the sagittal plane biomechanics of the hip and knee joint and PT; and little was known about the frontal and horizontal plane biomechanics in athletes with PT. While other factors such as motor control or muscle activation also have not been explored fully. The purpose of this study is to compare hip motor control and biomechanical characteristics of the hip and knee joint during landing in athletes with and without symptomatic PT.

Detailed Description
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Background: Patellar tendinopathy is an overuse injury associated with loading activities, and it is thought to be caused by repetitive force applied to the patellar tendon. Patellar tendinopathy is popular among basketball and volleyball players, particularly in men. Although altered biomechanical characteristics during landing has been suggested as one of the risk factors for the development of patellar tendinopathy, previous evidence failed to show the link between the sagittal plane biomechanics of the hip and knee joint and patellar tendinopathy; and little was known about the frontal and horizontal plane biomechanics in athletes with patellar tendinopathy. Among those factors contributing to the biomechanical characteristics, hip and quadriceps strength were shown linked with the presence of patellar tendinopathy, while other factors such as motor control or muscle activation have not been explored fully. The purpose of this study is to compare hip motor control and biomechanical characteristics of the hip and knee joint during landing in athletes with and without symptomatic patellar tendinopathy. The investigators hypothesize that the athletes with symptomatic patellar tendinopathy have poorer motor control and different landing biomechanics as compared with asymptomatic athletes. Method: the investigators plan to recruit seventeen symptomatic patellar tendinopathy athletes for the experimental group, using demographic data (sex, age, height, weight, exercise type) of experimental group to match seventeen non-symptomatic athletes as control group. The assessment included hip motor control in various directions, and measurement of kinetics, kinematics and muscle activation during the step-down task, drop vertical jump and countermovement jump using the computer-aided video motion analysis system (Vicon) and the surface EMG (Delsys). The group difference will be tested using Mann-Whitney U test for the score of motor control test battery, and MANOVA for the biomechanical characteristics. The significant level was set at 0.05.

Official Title
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Effect of Dynamic Taping on Landing Biomechanical Characteristics in Volleyball and Basketball Players With Symptoms of Patellar Tendinopathy

Conditions
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Biomechanical Phenomena

Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: at the age of 18 to 40 years old volleyball and basketball players have more than 2 years training experience over 90 minutes of training time per week symptomatic group: having patellar tendon pain during loading task last for 3 months VISA-P questionnaire score ≦80 asymptomatic group: without any lower extremity pain in past 3 months VISA-P questionnaire score >80 Exclusion Criteria: volleyball and basketball players joined the school team or professional level unbearable pain occurred at the patellar tendon when conducting landing tasks with a history of patellar tendon pain before there are currently other acute injuries to the lower extremity lower extremity has undergone surgery or fracture in the past with a history of rheumatoid arthritis, systematic and neurological diseases

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 18 Years
Maximum Age: 40 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| symptomatic group<br>Individuals with patellar tendon pain last for 3 months Individuals age between 18-40 years old Victorian Institute of Sport Assessment (VISA) Questionnaire score ≦80 | |
| asymptomatic group<br>Individuals without any lower extremity pain in past 3 months Individuals age between 18-40 years old Victorian Institute of Sport Assessment (VISA) Questionnaire score >80 | |

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| lower extremities joint angle | hip joint flexion, extension, abduction, adduction, internal rotation, external rotation angle, knee joint flexion, extension angle | Immediately during the experiment | 
| lower extremities joint angular velocity | hip joint flexion, extension, abduction, adduction, internal rotation, external rotation angle, knee joint flexion, extension angle divided by time | Immediately during the experiment | 
| lower extremities joint angular acceleration | lower extremities joint angular velocity divided by time | Immediately during the experiment | 
| ground reaction force | anterior, posterior, medial, lateral, vertical ground reaction force | Immediately during the experiment | 
| lower extremities joint force | calculate the reaction force between segments | Immediately during the experiment | 
| lower extremities joint moment | calculate the reaction moment between segments | Immediately during the experiment | 
| lower extremities joint power | calculate the reaction moment between segments | Immediately during the experiment | 
| time to peak ground reaction force | time period from initial contact to peak vertical ground reaction force | Immediately during the experiment | 
| loading rate of ground reaction force | peak vertical ground reaction force divided by time to peak ground reaction force | Immediately during the experiment | 
| net joint work | integral of joint power over time | Immediately during the experiment | 
| patellar tendon force | knee joint moment divided by moment arm | Immediately during the experiment | 
| Lower extremity muscles activation during landing task | The investigator will place surface electromyography (sEMG)(Delsys, USA) on subjects' bilateral gluteus maximum, gluteus medius, semitendinosus, biceps femoris, vastus medialis, vastus lateralis muscles to record muscles activities. | Immediately during the experiment | 
| Hip joint motor control | The investigator will ask subject to do the hip flexion, hip internal rotation, hip abduction/external rotation and hip adduction control task. | pre-experiment | 

Secondary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Lower extremities joint angle | Measuring bilateral ankle dorsiflexion range of motion by the physical therapist with goniometer. | pre-experiment | 
| Lower extremities muscle force | The hip extensor, external rotator, abductor, knee extensor, flexor muscle force measured by the physical therapist with a hand-held dynamometer | pre-experiment | 

 Terms related to the study
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Keywords Provided by Centre Hospitalier Valida
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patellar tendinopathy, volleyball, basketball, landing, biomechanics, EMG, muscle activation, kinetics, kinematics