The effect of fatigue on spike jump biomechanics in view of patellar tendon loading in volleyball

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Patellar tendinopathy (PT) is a highly prevalent overuse injury in volleyball and is often linked with overloading of the patellar tendon. Little is known, however, about whether and how patellar tendon loading is affected by fatigue during the most challenging jump activity in volleyball. Therefore, this study investigates the effect of a high-intensity, intermittent fatigue protocol on movement alterations in terms of patellar tendon loading during a volleyball spike jump. METHODS: Forty-three male volleyball players participated in this study. Three-dimensional full-body kinematics and kinetics were collected when performing a spike jump before and after the fatigue protocol. Sagittal plane joint angles, joint work and patellar tendon loading were calculated and analyzed with curve analyses using paired sample t-tests to investigate fatigue effects (p < 0.05). RESULTS: Fatigue induced a stiffer lower extremity landing strategy together with prolonged pelvis-trunk flexion compared to baseline (p = 0.001-0.005). Decreased patellar tendon forces (p = 0.001-0.010) and less eccentric knee joint work (-5%, p < 0.001) were observed after the fatigue protocol compared to baseline. CONCLUSION: Protective strategies seem to be utilized in a fatigued state to avoid additional tensile forces acting on the patellar tendon, including proximal compensations and stiff lower extremity landings. We hypothesize that players might be more prone for developing PT if eccentric patellar tendon loads are high in the non-fatigued state and/or these loads are somehow not decreased after fatigue.