Can the measurements of leg stability during jump landing predict and monitor anterior cruciate ligament injury? A case report of basketball player

Basketball is a contact sport game that includes important stresses of the lower limb joints. It follows an increased risk of developing acute traumatic pathologies, among which the lesion of the anterior cruciate ligament of the knee (ACL). The study aims at investigating the presence of ACL injury risk factors detectable with a wearable inertial system in a national competitive basketball player subjected to prospective collegial surveys, as well as indices for monitoring the return to play of the athlete. The injured participant suffered the ACL rupture during an international basketball match, which took place a month after the first evaluation session. The athlete underwent ACL reconstruction followed by a 6-months rehabilitation period. The evaluation of jump landing task was performed before and after the knee injury with the OPTOGait and GYKO sensors. The results showed significant differences in parameters of the injured lower limb compared to the contralateral limb in the pre-surgery evaluation. In addition, several leg stability parameters, such as ellipse area and path length in all directions, can be considered as useful indices to decide the return to competition of the athlete. The outcomes open the possibility to perform sport-specific quantitative analysis to obtain indices useful to assess the risk of ACL injury and to monitor the progress during the rehabilitation program.