Samenvatting

Background: Women have an increased risk of ACL injuries and patellofemoral complaints. Literature has speculated that this might be due to difference in kinematics across gender. Components of a dynamic valgus collapse has been associated with the above mentioned knee complaints.

Research question: What is the influence of gender on 3D kinematics of the knee during a one leg squat
in healthy subjects?

Goal: The purpose of this study is to observe the differences between men and women performing a one leg squat and to see if the outcomes show a gender trend in relation to valgus collapse.
Hypothesis: It is expected that a difference can be found between gender in degrees of movement in the frontal and the horizontal plane where women are thought to show more hip adduction and hip internal rotation as well as more knee abduction and knee external rotation
Research methods: The Codamotion Analysis system was used to analyse degrees of range of motion of 10 males and 10 females performing a one leg squat. Hip and knee ranges from all the three movement planes were extracted and compared by statistical analysis.

Results: Women showed more knee abduction than men. None of the other components of valgus collapse were significant different across gender.

Conclusion: Apart from knee abduction, the other components of the hypothesis were rejected. Future research should include greater sample sizes.