This prospective study tested whether a 6-week plyometric jump-training program changes landing mechanics and lower-limb strength in female high school volleyball players. Pre- and post-training landing forces, knee moments, and isokinetic strength were compared, with age- and height-matched male athletes as a reference. It asks whether trainable neuromuscular deficits underlie the higher knee injury rate in female athletes.
Female athletes in jumping and cutting sports sustain serious knee injury at 4 to 6 times the rate of males, and this paper identifies trainable mechanics behind that gap.
The key teaching point: coronal-plane control matters more than sagittal. Knee adduction and abduction moments, not how deeply the knee flexes on landing, predicted peak force. When you counsel a young female athlete, the target is dynamic valgus control and hamstring strength, not simply telling her to bend her knees.
The hamstring-to-quadriceps ratio is a usable number. Untrained females sat at 51% versus 65% in males, and a ratio below 60% is hypothesized to raise injury risk. Six weeks of plyometrics corrected the imbalance. As the foundational neuromuscular training RCT preceding Hewett 1999, this work established the protocol that underpins modern ACL prevention programs.
This prospective study tested whether a 6-week plyometric jump-training program changes landing mechanics and lower-limb strength in female high school volleyball players. Pre- and post-training landing forces, knee moments, and isokinetic strength were compared, with age- and height-matched male athletes as a reference. It asks whether trainable neuromuscular deficits underlie the higher knee injury rate in female athletes.
Female athletes in jumping and cutting sports sustain serious knee injury at 4 to 6 times the rate of males, and this paper identifies trainable mechanics behind that gap.
The key teaching point: coronal-plane control matters more than sagittal. Knee adduction and abduction moments, not how deeply the knee flexes on landing, predicted peak force. When you counsel a young female athlete, the target is dynamic valgus control and hamstring strength, not simply telling her to bend her knees.
The hamstring-to-quadriceps ratio is a usable number. Untrained females sat at 51% versus 65% in males, and a ratio below 60% is hypothesized to raise injury risk. Six weeks of plyometrics corrected the imbalance. As the foundational neuromuscular training RCT preceding Hewett 1999, this work established the protocol that underpins modern ACL prevention programs.