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Abstract

International Journal of Exercise Science 6(3) : 242-249, 2013. Fatigue is a common neuromuscular factor examined in relation to risk of ACL injury. Unfortunately, variations between the protocols used to induce fatigue in studies examining this phenomenon may have contributed to reported inconsistencies in the effects of fatigue on movements with high-risk of ACL injury. In addition, the ecological validity of fatigue experienced as a result of protocols commonly administered in the experimental setting is unclear. The purpose of this study was to examine the ecological validity, using basketball competition as the criterion measure, of two fatigue protocols commonly used to study the effect of fatigue on ACL injury risk. One male basketball player with competitive collegiate experience was recruited to participate in this study. Three dimensional angular kinematics of the lower extremity at the point of peak knee flexion were measured during a jump landing task before and after the completion of three fatigue protocols: a basketball game, a unilateral squatting and drop landing fatigue protocol, and a unilateral isokinetic knee flexion/extension fatigue protocol. We observed significant (p<.05) differences between fatigue protocols in knee flexion, knee rotation, knee abduction, hip rotation, and hip abduction during the landing task. In this study the fatigue-induced changes in landing biomechanics experienced as a result of basketball competition were not like those observed in the two fatigue protocols tested. These findings suggest that the effects of fatigue on ACL injury risk may be activity-specific and future investigations may benefit from the development of ecologically valid sport-specific fatigue protocols.

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