Effects of Footwear on Anterior Cruciate Ligament Forces during Landing in Young Adult Females

Rates of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) rupture in young people have increased markedly over the past two decades, with females experiencing greater growth in their risk compared to males. In this study, we determined the effects of low- and high-support athletic footwear on ACL loads during a standardized drop–land–lateral jump in 23 late-/post-pubertal females. Each participant performed the task unshod, wearing low- (Zaraca, ASICS) or high- (Kayano, ASICS) support shoes (in random order), and three-dimensional body motions, ground-reaction forces, and surface electromyograms were synchronously acquired. These data were then used in a validated computational model of ACL loading. One-dimensional statistical parametric mapping paired t-tests were used to compare ACL loads between footwear conditions during the stance phase of the task. Participants generated lower ACL forces during push-off when shod (Kayano: 624 N at 71–84% of stance; Zaraca: 616 N at 68–86% of stance) compared to barefoot (770 N and 740 N, respectively). No significant differences in ACL force were observed between the task performed wearing low- compared to high-support shoes. Compared to barefoot, both shoe types significantly lowered push-off phase peak ACL forces, potentially lowering risk of ACL injury during performance of similar tasks in sport and recreation.