Thigh Muscle Activity in Experienced Female Handball Players During Preplanned and Unplanned Sidestep Cuts

The purpose of this study was to assess if there is a difference in the thigh muscle activation patterns between a preplanned and unplanned sidestep cut performed by n = 31 experienced female handball players. Electromyogram vector fields containing the muscle activity of the vastus medialis, vastus lateralis, semitendinosus, and biceps femoris from 100 ms before ground contact until toe-off were created and compared using Statistical Parametric Mapping. Results show lower activity in the unplanned cut. When comparing individual muscles, vastus medialis was the only muscle showing differences between tasks, with the unplanned task eliciting lower activity right before initial ground contact. The findings of this study indicate that the knee joint might be more vulnerable to external knee joint moments in unplanned cutting tasks due to lower muscle pre-activity.