Intervention for Better Knee Alignment during Jump Landing: Is There an Effect of Internally vs. Externally Focused Instructions?

Inge Werner (), Monika Peer-Kratzer, Maurice Mohr, Steven van-Andel and Peter Federolf
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Inge Werner: Department of Sport Science, University of Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria
Monika Peer-Kratzer: Praxisgemeinschaft MOVIA MED, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria
Maurice Mohr: Department of Sport Science, University of Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria
Steven van-Andel: Department of Sport Science, University of Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria
Peter Federolf: Department of Sport Science, University of Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 17, 1-10

Abstract: Externally focused attention is known to induce superior results in the movement outcome, whereas focusing attention on the moving body (internal focus) causes conscious control and constrains action. The study investigated effects on knee trajectory and whole-body movement complexity when addressing knee alignment using externally (EF) vs. internally (IF) focused instructions. Young ski racers, n = 24 (12 male), performed landings with subsequent jumps to submaximal height. Movements were tracked and analyzed during the ground contact phase. Sets of jumps were executed without instruction (CON), followed by EF and IF instructions on knee alignment in a random order. Medial–lateral displacement of the knee in landing quantified task achievement, and whole-body principal component analysis was used to compute movement complexity. Knee alignment instructions led to a significantly lower medial knee displacement compared to CON ( p = 0.001, η p 2 = 0.35). EF vs. IF did not reach significance. EF, as well as IF instructions increased the prominence of the first movement pattern ( p = 0.01, η p 2 = 0.22) with a reduction of higher-order patterns ( p = 0.002, W = 0.11), suggesting a strategy of freezing degrees of freedom. Both instructions addressing the movement form positively influenced knee displacement during landing, and both led to a freezing strategy, simplifying whole-body coordination.

Keywords: focus of attention; instruction; knee alignment; constrained action; freezing; movement technique; principal component analysis (PCA) (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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