Laboratory evaluation of the pivot-shift phenomenon with use of kinetic analysis: a preliminary study.

Background: Currently, a suitable and reliable noninvasive method to evaluate rotational stability in vivo in anterior cruciate ligament-deficient knees, particularly during sports movements, does not exist. We speculated that if there is a rotational instability, the patient would avoid reaching a high pivoting moment during pivoting activities as a defense mechanism, and that the ground reaction moment, as registered by dynamometric platforms, would be reduced. On the basis of this hypothesis, we developed a study using kinetic analysis to evaluate rotational stability under dynamic loading.