Preliminary data of kinematics and kinetics of forward lunge in exercise-proficient individuals: Does dominant vs. non-dominant leg matter?

Forward lunge is a common ADL activity and an integral part of therapy programs. Studies focused on load-related parameters in patients with knee injuries [1], obese people [2], or specific sports disciplines [3]. In the latter group, there were differences between the dominant and non-dominant sides due to the asynchrony of the sports discipline. To facilitate the real-time feedback for the execution of the forward lunge exercise, it is crucial to establish specific cut-off values and determine whether differences exist between the dominant and non-dominant sides. Do the kinematics and kinetics of the leading limb differ between the dominant and non-dominant sides in exercise-proficient individuals performing the forward lunge exercise? 18 healthy physiotherapists, aged 19 to 62 years, performed five forward lunges on both their right and left sides. The movement was recorded with an optoelectronic motion capture system and a multi-axis force plate. For a valid attempt, the foot of the leading leg had to land entirely on the force plate, and the lunge had to be performed swiftly in a single movement. Otherwise, the attempt was repeated. The kinematic and kinetic waveforms of hip, knee, and ankle in all three planes were examined. Only the leading limb was analysed in each trial. All parameter were tested for a difference between dominant and non-dominant leg using spm1d [4], and alpha was set to 0.05. The recordings were divided into phase down, from the initial ground contact to the reversal point, and phase up, from the reversal point to leaving the force plate. These phases were time normalized from 0% to 100%. No significant difference could be detected in any of the investigated parameters by paired spm1d. Fig. 1 shows the frontal hip and knee kinematics and the frontal knee kinetics. The null hypothesis was thus not rejected by the sample, although the trajectories show a clear offset in the frontal knee moments. The remaining data are not shown, no difference could be detected in these either. Fig. 1: Frontal hip kinetics of the hip joint and the knee joint, as well as frontal kinematics of the knee joint. The bar at the bottom of each graph represents the result of the spm1d paired t-test (alpha = 0.05). However, there are no statistically significant differences, so the bars are solid white.Download : Download high-res image (209KB)Download : Download full-size image This ongoing study is the first to provide three-dimensional reference data of forward lunge performed by a healthy exercise proficient sample. It is planned to include a total of 40 healthy exercise-proficient and another 40 healthy less exercise-skilled participants. Depending on the precision requirements, laterality could be relevant for defining feedback thresholds for frontal knee moments. The definition of thresholds remains subject to analysis of the complete sample.