Biomechanical variations in children who are overweight and obese during high-impact activities: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Youth who are obese or overweight demonstrate evidence of poor lower extremity joint health and alterations in gait characteristics compared with youth who are healthy weight. However, there is no consensus if altered movement patterns are still present during high-impact activities. The purpose of this review was to determine if spatiotemporal and kinematic and kinetic variables during high-impact activities were significantly different between youth who are overweight and obese compared with youth who are healthy weight.

Moderate reliability of the lateral step down test amongst experienced and novice physical therapists.

Background/introduction: The lateral step-down test is used to appraise movement quality in patients with patellofemoral pain (PFP), however, it is unclear if reliability of the test is affected by physical therapist experience.

Objective: Determine if there is a difference in reliability between 'experienced' and 'novice' physical therapists appraising movement quality of patients with PFP during the lateral step-down test.

Methods: Three 'experienced' and 3 'novice' physical therapists analyzed movement quality of 22 participants [mean age (SD) 28.

Obese Youth Demonstrate Altered Landing Knee Mechanics Unrelated to Lower-Extremity Peak Torque When Compared With Healthy Weight Youth.

Obese (OB) youth demonstrate altered knee mechanics and worse lower-extremity performance compared with healthy weight (HW) youth. Our objectives were to compare sagittal plane knee landing mechanics between OB and HW youth and to examine the associations of knee and hip extension peak torque with landing mechanics in OB youth. Twenty-four OB and 24 age- and sex-matched HW youth participated.