(7) INTERDISCIPLINARY COLLABORATION FOR COMPREHENSIVE INJURY PREVENTION AND REHABILITATION EVALUATION IN FEMALE ATHLETES

Thursday, July 13, 2023

10:00 AM – 10:15 AM East Coast USA Time

Location: Milano I-II

Podium Presenter(s)

Sam R. Moore, MS, CSCS, USAW (she/her/hers)

PhD Student
University of North Carolina At Chapel Hill - Chapel Hill, NC
Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States

Author(s)

CC

Courtney Chaaban

PhD Candidate
University of North Carolina Exercise and Sport Science - Chapel Hill, NC
Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States
KJ

Kelly Joniak

Master's Student
University of North Carolina At Chapel Hill - Chapel Hill, NC
Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States
Hannah E. Cabré, PhD, RDN (she/her/hers)

Post Doctoral Fellow
Pennington Biomedical Research Center
Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States
DP

Darin A. Padua

Distinguished Professor
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States
AS

Abbie E. Smith-Ryan

Professor
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States

Abstract Details: INTRODUCTION: Female athletes suffer increased anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries in sport, as well as worse return to play (RTP) outcomes post ACL reconstruction (ACLR) compared to males. Body composition and kinetic outcomes can be used to monitor RTP, however the interrelated nature of these outcomes during the RTP process is not well understood.

Purpose: To characterize differences and relationships between regional body composition and kinetics in women’s soccer athletes with a history of ACLR and those without.

Methods: Twenty-three NCAA Division I women’s soccer athletes (Age: 19.8±1.4yrs; Wt: 65.5±7.7kg; ACLR [n=6] or control [CON; n=17]) underwent comprehensive testing in August of their competitive season. Body composition was evaluated via dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) with custom regions of interest (ROI) applied to the hip (greater trochanter and iliac crest to spine), thigh (greater trochanter to tibiofemoral joint), and calf (tibiofemoral joint to talocrural joint) for regional lean mass (LM) and fat mass (FM). A double-limb jump-landing task was used to evaluate peak vertical ground reaction force (vGRF; N/kg) of the initial impact phase (vGRFI; first 200ms of ground contact) and propulsion phase (vGRFP; second half of ground contact). CON athletes were randomly assigned involved (IN) and uninvolved (UN) legs for comparison purposes. Independent sample t-tests were used to assess differences between groups. Bivariate correlations were used to evaluate relationships.

Results: ACLR athletes demonstrated greater LM values for IN (p=0.01) and UN (p=0.01) legs, however no significant limb differences were seen in LM (p=0.24) or FM (p=0.98) between groups (Table 1). For the Thigh ROI, ACLR exhibited significantly greater LM for both legs (IN: p=0.05; UN: p=0.01), LM difference (p=0.02), as well as LM and FM percent difference between limbs (p< 0.02). In the calf ROI, ACLR athletes displayed significantly greater LM for IN (p=0.04) and UN (p=0.03). In the ACLR group, Hip FM difference was significantly associated with vGRFP difference (p=0.02; r=-0.90), and Hip LM difference was significantly associated with vGRFP percent difference (p=0.05; r=-0.82). Thigh FM percent difference was negatively associated with both vGRFP IN (p< 0.01; r=-0.92) and UN (p=0.01; r=-0.91) for ACLR group. No associations were observed between total leg FM or LM and kinetic outcomes.

Conclusion: Custom LM and FM ROIs demonstrated notable limb differences despite no differences in total leg outcomes for ACLR. Further, ROI LM and FM values show unique relationships with propulsion abilities within the ACLR group. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: Performance staff can use region specific LM and FM outcomes to provide limb-specific granularity related to compensatory joint-specific kinetics post ACLR. Regional differences of < 5% may be a more impactful threshold to comprehensively evaluate short- and long-term RTP processes and secondary ACL injury risk.

Acknowledgements: None