Jiating Ye

Advisors
Prof. Dr. Anne Koelewijn, Marlies Nitschke, M.Sc., Prof. Dr. Maurice Mohr, Prof. Dr. Peter Federolf

Duration
07 / 2022 – 03 / 2023

Abstract
Knee injuries such as ruptures of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) are common during sports that require fast change-of-direction (COD) movements such as sidestepping and pivoting during soccer, basketball, handball, and related sports (1). Consequently, there is a plethora of studies to investigate COD movement strategies and the associated biomechanical loads to differentiate between riskier and safer COD movement strategies and identify targets for preventative training (2). The large majority of those studies, however, analyzed COD movements in controlled laboratory environments, in which participants are sidestepping into pre-planned movement directions without external stimuli or interaction with other players. This leads to the concern that the knowledge generated from such laboratory studies may not translate to COD movements on the playing field, which are heavily influenced by the coupling of the players’ perception of their environment and the resulting action (3). Therefore, the successful assessment and training of COD movement strategies to reduce the risk for ACL injuries requires assessment frameworks that are ecological validity, i.e. a framework that closely resembles the real-world playing environment of the athletes. Such a framework critically depends on motion analysis systems that are wearable, minimally obstructive for the player but can still provide accurate and reliable information regarding joint movement and loading during COD movements.

References
[1] Petridou E, Kedikoglou S, Belechri M, Papadopoulos F, Alexe DM, Trichopoulos D. Sports Injuries among Adults in Six European Union Countries. Eur J Trauma Emerg Surg. 2003 Oct 1;29(5):278–83.
[2] Donelon TA, Dos’Santos T, Pitchers G, Brown M, Jones PA. Biomechanical Determinants of Knee Joint Loads Associated with Increased Anterior Cruciate Ligament Loading During Cutting: A Systematic Review and Technical Framework. Sports Med Open. 2020 Nov 2;6(1):53.
[3] Young W, Rayner R, Talpey S. It’s Time to Change Direction on Agility Research: a Call to Action. Sports Med Open. 2021 Feb 12;7(1):12.
[4] Dorschky E, Nitschke M, Seifer A-K, van den Bogert AJ, Eskofier BM. Estimation of gait kinematics and kinetics from inertial sensor data using optimal control of musculoskeletal models. J Biomech. 2019 Oct 11;95:109278.
[5] Dorschky E, Nitschke M, Martindale CF, van den Bogert AJ, Koelewijn AD, Eskofier BM. CNN-Based Estimation of Sagittal Plane Walking and Running Biomechanics From Measured and Simulated Inertial Sensor Data. Front Bioeng Biotechnol. 2020 Jun 26;8:604.