Original Research Article
Year: 2018 | Month: November | Volume: 8 | Issue: 11 | Pages: 31-36
A Study on Lower Extremity Malalignment and Its Correlation to Q-Angle in State Level Athletes of Odisha
Nihar Ranjan Mohanty1, Shyamal Koley2
1Research Scholar, 2Professor and Head,
Department of Physiotherapy, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar-143005, Punjab, India
Corresponding Author: Shyamal Koley
ABSTRACT
Introduction: Q-angle is considered to be the most important variable among the lower extremity alignment variables. The present study was undertaken to determine the anatomical factors, those which have impact on the magnitude of Q-angle and to examine sex differences in lower extremity alignment of state level athletes.
Methods: 100 state level athletes (50 male and 50 female) of age group 18-27 years were selected purposively from various sports academies of Odisha for study. Five anthropometric variables, i.e. height, weight, Body Mass Index, total leg length, lower leg length; and six lower extremity alignment variables, i.e. tibiofemoral angle, femur anteversion, Q-angle, genu recurvatum, tibial torsion, navicular drop were measured on each subject following standard techniques.
Results: The present study depicted that statistically significant differences (p≤0.001) were observed between male and female state level athletes in anthropometric variables, viz., height, weight, right total leg length, left total leg length, right lower leg length, left lower leg length and; in lower extremity alignment variables, viz., right femoral anteversion, left femoral anteversion, right Q-angle, left Q-angle, right tibial torsion, left tibial torsion. However, statistically significant difference (p<0.05) were seen in right tibiofemoral angle, right navicular drop and left navicular drop. Significant positive correlation (p≤0.001) of right Q-angle was noted with right femoral anteversion, right tibial torsion and right navicular drop.
Conclusion: It may be concluded that femoral anteversion, tibial torsion and navicular drop have significant impact on the magnitude of Q-angle; and the sex difference may influence the static lower extremity alignments.
Key words: Q-angle, tibiofemoral angle, femoral anteversion, genu recurvatum, tibial torsion, navicular drop.