Sex differences in knee biomechanics during unexpected cutting and their correlation with sensorimotor function

This study aims to investigate sex differences in knee biomechanics during unexpected cutting and their correlation with sensorimotor function. Sixteen male and 16 female athletes were recruited. Participants were asked to complete six unexpected cutting tasks on their dominant side. Peak muscle force, position sense, and force sense of the dominant knee were measured using a CON-TREX isokinetic dynamometer. Results suggested that female athletes demonstrated a higher knee valgus angle at initial contact (p = 0.004) and peak knee valgus angle (p = 0.027) than males. Females also had a lower peak knee flexion angle (p = 0.001) and knee flexion moment (p = 0.002) than males. Quadriceps force sense errors were correlated with peak knee valgus angle in female (r = 0.558, p = 0.025) and male (r = 0.550, p = 0.027) athletes. In addition, in female athletes, higher quadriceps strength was related to a greater peak knee flexion angle (r = 0.525, p = 0.037). In summary, female athletes exhibit knee biomechanical characteristics associated with a higher risk of anterior cruciate ligament injury compared with male athletes. Insufficient quadriceps strength and larger force sense error are associated with the knee biomechanical characteristics.