Effect of acute performance fatigue on tibial bone strain during basketball maneuvers

The tibia is one of the most common sites for bone stress injury (BSI) in active individuals. BSIs are thought to occur in response to damage accumulation from repetitive loading below the tissue's yield limit. The effect of fatigue on musculoskeletal biomechanics and tibial bone strain during athletic movements remains unclear. In this study, participant-specific finite element (FE) and musculoskeletal models in 10 collegiate-basketball players were used to analyze the effect of acute performance fatigue on joint kinematics and torques, ground reaction forces (GRFs), and the magnitude and distribution of tibial bone strains during select basketball maneuvers. Participants were fatigued by performing repeated exercises wearing a weighted vest until their vertical jump height decreased by 20 %. Fatigue reduced the vertical GRF during midstance of a jump task, and lowered hip and knee peak extension torques and ankle plantarflexion. However, fatigue had limited impact on tibial bone strain magnitude and distribution during jumping. In contrast, there was a shift in peak strain timing following fatigue during a lateral cut task and reduced strain at various times of stance during sprinting. The results suggest that fatigue was induced and, if anything, reduced tibial bone strain. As increased bone strain is thought to be associated with increased BSI risk, the reduced strain observed in the current study suggests that fatigue may actually be partly protective, possibly as a result of reduced muscle activation and force production.