In addition to smaller frontal plane internal hip and
knee joint moments, participants also demonstrated
less knee abduction excursion and increased knee
adduction excursion during the stance phase of running
after the movement training program. These
effects suggest a less medial knee position during
running that may be beneficial for the participants
who demonstrated the most negative (medial) frontal
plane projection angles displayed during a single leg
squat. A medial knee position during the stance phase
of running may affect the line of pull of the quadriceps
and contribute to the etiology or exacerbation of
overuse injuries such as patellofemoral pain. As
such, this finding may be relevant for clinicians working
with runners who experience this condition.
Interestingly, to the authors’ knowledge, no previous
studies of exercise-based programs used to modify
running kinematics have reported significant changes
in frontal plane knee angles or excursions. This novel
finding may be related to the method used for participant
selection. The subjects who were selected demonstrated
the most medial knee position during a
single leg squat activity. Therefore, it is possible that
these participants had the greatest capacity for changing
lower extremity kinematics and kinetics during
the stance phase of running. Previous studies that
have reported frontal plane knee joint kinematics following
a hip strengthening or proximal stability training
program did not screen potential subjects for
evidence of altered weight bearing kinematics.
As such, it may be reasonable to expect less change in
such participants.