Research done in the past has used time to stabilization (TTS) from forward landing tasks to assess dynamic postural stability in ACL reconstructed (ACLR) athletes so as to identify impaired sensorimotor control and mechanical stability. It’s possible that this test is not suitable due to the fact that research has suggested that ACL injury has a multi-planar mechanism of injury. The authors therefore conducted the study with the aim of comparing TTS values from a forward land and a diagonal land to determine if diagonal landing TTS values are more sensitive to dynamic postural stability deficits in female ACLR athletes. They recruited a group of ACL reconstructed female athletes and a group of female control athletes who performed three forward lands and three diagonal lands onto a force-plate and remained still on one foot for 15s. TTS was calculated for the anterior-posterior and medial-lateral ground reaction forces as well as the resultant vector of both forces. All three TTS values were significantly increased in the ACLR group from the control group for the diagonal landing task. They did not find any difference in TTS values between the groups for the forward landing task.
The authors concluded that TTS values from a diagonal landing are more sensitive at identifying compromised dynamic postural stability in a group of female ACLR athletes compared to TTS values from a forward land.