The Interactive Effect of Pre-Landing Skill Complexity and Fatigue on Biomechanical Landing Patterns in Female Taekwondo Athletes

Objective Landing is a movement phase commonly associated with lower-limb injuries.Although various factors influencing landing mechanics have been examined, the role of execution complexity has received comparatively little attention.This study examined how task complexity affects landing performance under fatigue by comparing a taekwondo jump kick, representing a complex movement, with a countermovement jump, representing a simple task.Methods Kinematic and kinetic data were collected using a motion analysis system and a portable force platform.The experimental protocol consisted of two repeated phases.First, six highly skilled female welterweight taekwondo athletes performed the landing tasks using both their dominant and non-dominant legs.Immediately afterward, they completed a standardized fatigue protocol.This sequence was repeated continuously without rest until exhaustion, and each athlete completed four full cycles. ResultsThe findings indicated that hip joint angles were the most affected variables following the reduction in hip extensor and knee flexor strength induced by fatigue.The most pronounced differences between the simple and complex tasks appeared in the kinematic variables.Fatigue increased the disparity between the two tasks in the dominant leg, whereas in the non-dominant leg this difference decreased.Another notable observation was the shift in the direction of asymmetry in several variables when comparing the rested and fatigued conditions.In the simple task, changes in asymmetry direction occurred in five variables, while in the complex task such changes were observed in eight variables. ConclusionThe combined influence of skill complexity, fatigue, and limb dominance leads to distinct landing patterns in female taekwondo athletes.These results emphasize the need for further investigation of this interaction across a broader range of sport-specific skills.