What are the differences between on-ice and off-ice side-cutting maneuver? A kinematic and electromyographic comparative analysis of ice hockey players

作者：Zhi‐Bin Yu, Gengchao Bi, Wei‐Kai Wang, Ying Qin, Zihan Song, Fengyu Wu · 发表于：Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.3389/fbioe.2025.1692676 · 被引用次数：3 · 研究领域：Winter Sports Injuries and Performance、Sports Performance and Training、Sports injuries and prevention

Introduction: Off-ice training is foundational for developing key physical qualities such as strength and power in ice hockey, but its biomechanical transference to on-ice performance is not well understood. This is critical, as maneuvers like side-cutting carry a high injury risk, potentially linked to environmental differences. This study aimed to compare the hip and knee kinematics and neuromuscular control strategies of elite ice hockey players during side-cutting maneuvers in on-ice versus off-ice environments, and to explore the potential injury implications associated with these biomechanical differences. Methods: Twenty elite male ice hockey players performed standardized 45° side-cutting maneuvers on and off the ice. A 12-camera motion capture system and surface electromyography (sEMG) were used to collect kinematic and muscle activation data. Biomechanical analysis was conducted using OpenSim for modeling, with one-dimensional Statistical Parametric Mapping (SPM1D) for continuous curve analysis and SPSS for discrete data points. Results: The on-ice maneuver demonstrated fundamentally different biomechanical patterns. Kinematically, athletes exhibited significantly greater hip flexion, hip abduction, and knee flexion on-ice. Most notably, a complete reversal in frontal plane knee motion was observed, shifting from a varus posture off-ice to a valgus posture on-ice. Neuromuscularly, a paradoxical strategy was revealed: while individual muscle activation (IEMG, RMS) wa...