Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) rupture is one of the most common serious sports injuries, and one-third of those affected develop knee osteoarthritis within 10–15 years of injury (Lohmander et al., 2007). ACL injuries are especially prevalent among young female athletes in sports involving rapid stops, changes of direction, and landings (Mall et al., 2014).
They typically occur during a swift cutting maneuver or landing, when a nearly fully extended knee suddenly collapses inward at initial ground contact, subjecting the ACL to loads beyond its tensile strength (Hewett et al., 2005; Leppänen et al., 2015). Although athletes are coached to avoid these risky knee positions, dynamic valgus still occurs during fast changes of direction, and ACL injury rates have not declined (Kulmala, 2019).
The LEMPI study investigates why dynamic knee valgus appears in high-speed cuts and whether it is related to lower-limb force production.
Funding & Data Collection This research is funded by Metropolia University of Applied Sciences and the Academy of Finland. Data have been collected at the Metropolia movement laboratory from healthy athletes and those recovering from ACL reconstruction. Data analysis is currently in progress.
Wang D, Valtonen AM, Thiel T, Stenroth L, Gao Y, Kulmala J-P. Effects of ACL exercise-based injury prevention interventions on knee motion in athletes: a systematic review and Bayesian network meta-analysis. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther. 2025;55(2):1–14. DOI: 10.2519/jospt.2024.12720.
