Muscle activity analysis during motor tasks in subjects submitted to anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction

Abstract

The anterior lateral cruciate ligament (ACL) lesion is a common injury among the physical activity practitioners and lately has become more frequent due to increase in sport practice. The more praised treatment for this lesion is the cirurgical reconstruction. Previous studies have shown that muscles activation asymmetries in subjects after ACL reconstruction and changes in the pattern of this activation when compared to subjects with no lesion. However, there are many questions about these changes found in injured individuals, specially the strategy known as quadriceps avoidance. A greater knowledge of the muscle recruitment pattern in the ACL-lesioned individuals, which is the general objective of this project, could lead to a more their efficient rehabilitation and prevent future lesions. For this reason, the muscle activation pattern will be investigated by superficial electromyography during symmetrical and asymmetrical tasks. This study will be conducted with the project of the master student Bruno Serafim da Luz, titled “Symmetry analysis of motor tasks in subjects after ACL reconstruction”. The master student will be in charge of the kinematics and kinetics analyzes, and Raquel the (the author of this project) will be responsible for the muscle activation study. (AU)