A comparison of bilateral and unilateral drop jumping tasks in the assessment of vertical stiffness
Abstract
This study sought to compare vertical stiffness during bilateral and unilateral drop jumping. Specifically, the intersession reliabilities and force-deformation profiles associated with each task were to be examined. On 3 occasions, following familiarization, 14 healthy males (age: 22 [2] y; height: 1.77 [0.08] m; and body mass: 73.5 [8.0] kg) performed 3 bilateral, left leg and right leg drop jumps. All jumps were performed from a drop height of 0.18 m on to a dual force plate system. Vertical stiffness was calculated as the ratio of peak ground reaction force (GRF) to the peak center of mass (COM) displacement. Unilateral drop jumping was associated with higher GRF and greater COM displacement (both Ps < .001), but vertical stiffness was not different between tasks when considering individual limbs (P = .98). A coefficient of variation of 14.6% was observed for bilateral vertical stiffness during bilateral drop jumping; values of 6.7% and 7.6% were observed for left and right limb vertical stiffness during unilateral drop jumping. These findings suggest that unilateral drop jumps may exhibit greater reliability than bilateral drop jumps while eliciting similar vertical stiffness. It is also apparent that higher GRFs during unilateral drop jumping are mitigated by increased COM displacement.Citation
Maloney SJ, Richards J, Fletcher IM (2018) 'A comparison of bilateral and unilateral drop jumping tasks in the assessment of vertical stiffness', Journal of Applied Biomechanics, 34 (3), pp.199-204.Publisher
Human KineticsJournal
Journal of Applied BiomechanicsPubMed ID
29364028Type
ArticleLanguage
enISSN
1065-8483EISSN
1543-2688ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1123/jab.2017-0094
Scopus Count
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