The locust is well known for its ability to jump large distances to avoid predation. This class sets out a series of investigations into the mechanisms underlying the jump enabling students to bring together information from biomechanics, muscle physiology, and anatomy. The nature of the investigation allows it to be undertaken at a number of levels of complexity from relatively simple comparat...

Asymmetrical lower limb loading during landing may lead to overuse knee injuries if one limb is required to repetitively attenuate greater load. Symmetry of the peak vertical ground reaction force (vGRF) and knee moment generated in the lead and trail lower limbs of healthy female volleyball players during landing from a lateral-moving jump were determined. Each participant performed five jump-...

BACKGROUND Females suffer injuries to the anterior cruciate ligament at rates significantly higher than males. Frontal plane knee motion and load have been identified as major risk factors for anterior cruciate ligament injury and in turn have been examined extensively. METHODS A systematic review of MEDLINE, CINHAL, and SportDISCUS was performed (1982-June 2010). Criteria for inclusion were ...

Women tear their Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) 2-8 times more frequently than men. Frontal plane knee motion can produce a pathological load in the ACL. During a state of fatigue the muscles surrounding the knee joint may lose the ability to protect the joint during sudden deceleration while landing. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of fatigue and gender on frontal pl...

BACKGROUND Some research studies have investigated the effects of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury prevention programs on knee kinematics during landing tasks; however the results were different among the studies. Even though tibial rotation is usually observed at the time of ACL injury, the effects of training programs for knee kinematics in the horizontal plane have not yet been analyz...

Background: Jumping and landing are common activities in soccer, i.e., associated with Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) injuries in the players, especially when experiencing fatigue. The current study aimed to compare the kinematics of the lower limb joints in jump-landing maneuver among soccer players with and without a history of anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction. Methods: Among acti...

Jumping is a common form of locomotion for many arboreal animals. Many species of the arboreal lizard genus Anolis occupy habitats in which they must jump to and from unsteady perches, e.g. narrow branches, vines, grass and leaves. Anoles therefore often use compliant perches that could alter jump performance. In this study we conducted a small survey of the compliance of perches used by the ar...