Comparison of support leg kinetics between side-step and cross-step cutting techniques

The purpose of this study was to investigate differences in the support leg joint moment and moment power between side-step (SS) and cross-step (CS) cutting techniques with a prescribed 908 cutting angle. Ground reaction forces (1,000Hz) and three-dimensional kinematics (250Hz) of SS and CS cutting techniques were collected from 20 male college athletes. Normalised peak knee extension moment was larger in the SS technique than in the CS technique (0.40 +/- 0.10 in SS; 0.26 +/- 0.08 in CS). In the SS technique, the knee extensors (-0.10 +/- 0.06 in SS; -0.02 +/- 0.04 in CS) and ankle plantarflexors (-0.12 +/- 0.05 in SS; -0.07 +/- 0.03 in CS) did significantly more negative work (normalised). The direction change angle (40.5 +/- 8.7 degrees in SS; 33.0 +/- 6.8 degrees in CS) and the decrease in horizontal velocity of the centre of mass (-0.63 +/- 0.23 m/s in SS; -0.31 +/- 0.23 m/s in CS) were significantly larger in the SS technique. These results suggest that the SS technique is an effective means of changing running direction at the expense of velocity of the centre of mass and that the CS technique is better for minimising the reduction in horizontal velocity of the centre of mass.