Altered Lower Extremity Intersegmental Coordination in Female Athletes With Dynamic Knee Valgus: A Case-control Study

Purpose: Among female athletes, dynamic knee valgus (DKV) is one of the most common injuries, especially anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries. This study aims to compare lower limb coordination in athletes with and without DKV during walking. Methods: In this case-control study, 32 recreational female athletes were recruited in two groups, 17 with DKV and 15 without DKV (WDKV). A motion analysis system was used to gather kinematic data at 200 Hz. The participants were educated to walk barefoot on an 8-meter pathway comfortably. The segmental angles in each motion plane were then calculated using MATLAB software, version 9.14. The mean absolute relative phase (MARP) and deviation phase (DP) were extracted for the pelvic-thigh, thigh-shank, and shank-foot segments. A two-sample t-test was used to compare the mean values ​​of the MARP and DP ​in the gait stance and swing phases. The significance level is 95% (P