Effect of posterior cruciate ligament creep on muscular co-activation around knee: a pilot study

The effect of posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) on muscle co-activation (MCO) is not known though MCO has been extensively studied. The purpose of the study was to investigate the effect of PCL creep on MCO and on joint moment around the knee. Twelve males and twelve females volunteered for this study. PCL creep was estimated via tibial posterior displacement which was elicited by a 20kg dumbbell hanged on horizontal shank near patella for 10min. Electromyography activity from both rectus femoris and biceps femoris as well as muscle strength on the right thigh was recorded synchronically during knee isokinetic flexion-extension performance in speed of 60deg/s as well as 120deg/s on a dynamometer before and after PCL creep. A one-way ANOVA with repeated measures was used to evaluate the effect of creep, gender and speed. The results showed that significant tibial posterior displacement was found (p=0.01) in both male and female groups. No significant increase of joint moment was found in flexion as well as in extension phase in both female and male groups. There was a significant effect of speed (p=0.036) on joint moment in extension phase. Co-activation index (CI) decreased significantly (p=0.049) in extension phase with a significant effect of gender (p⩽0.001). It was concluded that creep developed in PCL due to static posterior load on the proximal tibia could significantly elicit the increase of the activation of agonist muscles but with no compensation from the antagonist in flexion as well as in extension phase. The creep significantly elicited the decrease of the antagonist-agonist CI in extension phase. MCO in females was reduced significantly in extension phase. It was suggested that PCL creep might be one of risk factors to the knee injury in sports activity.