The Kinetics of Athletes with Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction in Neuro-Cognitive Challenge Landing

Neurocognitive motor tasks have been shown to have an effective relationship with athletic performance and musculoskeletal injuries. Cognitive changes following anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction surgery may lead to adverse knee biomechanical changes and an increased risk of secondary injury. This study aimed to compare the kinetics of athletes with a history of ACL reconstruction and those without injuries. A total of 30 professional male soccer players, comprising 15 anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction athletes who had returned to the performance and 15 healthy athletes, participated in this study. The subjects performed at least 5 drop landings with cognitive intervention to decide the landing point on the force plate. The maximum ground reaction force, time to stability and center of pressure with length of path index were calculated at the moment of landing. The Mann-Whitney U test was used to compare the variables. The results indicated a significant difference in four variables: the maximum mean vertical ground reaction force in all landings (p = 0.04), the maximum mean vertical ground reaction force in the best landings (p = 0.01), the maximum average vertical ground reaction force in all landings (p = 0.01), and the maximum mean mediolateral ground reaction force in the best landings (p = 0.03). However, no statistical significance was observed in the variable of maximum time to stability in all landing classes (p > 0.05).The study findings suggest that impaired decision-making with cognitive interference during the flight phase may increase the risk of re-injury in individuals with anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction.