Presentation Type
Poster
Faculty Mentor’s Full Name
Richard Willy
Faculty Mentor’s Department
School of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Science
Abstract / Artist's Statement
Female soldiers are more than twice as likely than male soldiers to experience knee pain. In the military, carrying moderate and heavy loads is expected of soldiers, regardless of sex or physical capability, and is likely to contribute to the high rate of knee injuries in the military. Because of their lower body mass and leg strength, females may be more vulnerable to experiencing larger increases in knee stress, versus males while carrying heavy loads. Thus, we assessed sex-related differences in knee joint stress with the addition of moderate and heavy loads. Via 3-D motion capture, 34 healthy, well-trained individuals with load carriage experience completed instrumented treadmill trials with and without moderate (20-kg) and heavy (35-kg) load carriage. Peak knee stress was estimated with a musculoskeletal model and analyzed with repeated measure analysis of variance (ANOVA). Our data found that knee stress increased similarly with the addition of moderate load in both males and females; however, females experienced a disproportionately greater increase in knee stress with the heavy load compared to males. While these data suggest that females may need additional physical conditioning to improve their ability to carry heavy loads, females carried moderate loads as well as their male counterparts. This research is impactful to the field of exercise science and society (especially regarding the military) as it sheds light on sex-differences in load carrying capabilities. Furthermore, these findings can serve as an influential tool in developing additional research in the field of sex-dependent load carriage capabilities as it pertains to injury prevention.
Category
Life Sciences
Sex-related Differences in Patellofemoral Joint Stress with Fighting and Approach Load Carriage
Female soldiers are more than twice as likely than male soldiers to experience knee pain. In the military, carrying moderate and heavy loads is expected of soldiers, regardless of sex or physical capability, and is likely to contribute to the high rate of knee injuries in the military. Because of their lower body mass and leg strength, females may be more vulnerable to experiencing larger increases in knee stress, versus males while carrying heavy loads. Thus, we assessed sex-related differences in knee joint stress with the addition of moderate and heavy loads. Via 3-D motion capture, 34 healthy, well-trained individuals with load carriage experience completed instrumented treadmill trials with and without moderate (20-kg) and heavy (35-kg) load carriage. Peak knee stress was estimated with a musculoskeletal model and analyzed with repeated measure analysis of variance (ANOVA). Our data found that knee stress increased similarly with the addition of moderate load in both males and females; however, females experienced a disproportionately greater increase in knee stress with the heavy load compared to males. While these data suggest that females may need additional physical conditioning to improve their ability to carry heavy loads, females carried moderate loads as well as their male counterparts. This research is impactful to the field of exercise science and society (especially regarding the military) as it sheds light on sex-differences in load carrying capabilities. Furthermore, these findings can serve as an influential tool in developing additional research in the field of sex-dependent load carriage capabilities as it pertains to injury prevention.