JUMPS
In the assessment of technical gestures typical of sports, jumping is clearly one of the actions predominantly performed by athletes. Good elevation is fundamental for basketball or volleyball players, and, of course, various forms of jumping are present in athletics disciplines such as high jump, long jump, or triple jump. The analysis of the vertical component is frequently adopted in the study of performance in jumping, as it constitutes a practical, efficient, and repeatable method over time, providing useful and applicable data in training.
One of the main contributors to research in this field was Prof. Bosco, who in the '80s and '90s published a series of articles on the variables involved in the analysis of vertical jump, proposing a battery of tests to investigate various motor skills. Over the last decades, jump analysis has, therefore, developed significantly and has become a fundamental tool for evaluation and monitoring. In particular, this "field" method is the basis for:
- Performance or predictive evaluations of an athlete; many professional sports clubs and championships select athletes based on demonstrated skills during physical test protocols. Also, monitoring changes in vertical jump performance during a season provides information about the health status of a subject.
- Injury risk assessments; according to Impellizzeri et al., bilateral asymmetry of force during the jump is a risk factor for musculoskeletal injuries. Henderson et al., on the other hand, observed that athletes who generate more power (jump higher) are more at risk of musculoskeletal injuries.
- Monitoring athlete training and status to define workloads, even on a daily or weekly basis.
- Rehabilitation protocols, in the recovery phase and in identifying the best time for return-to-play. Comparing pre-injury performance data provides an accurate system for assessing recovery status during a rehabilitation period. Additionally, a precise evaluation of landing and jumping mechanics will help establish underlying re-injury potential.
Depending on the type of jump analyzed, in addition to height, other variables play a very important role in biomechanical evaluation:
- Flight time: it is the result of the subject's force application, and the main goal of the performance is to make it as long as possible.
- Contact time: along with flight time, this parameter is crucial for calculating expressed power (the lower its value, the greater the power).
- Rate of Force Development (RSD): a measure of explosive force, indicating how quickly an athlete can express force.
- Reactive Strength Index (RSI): a measure of reactive jump capacity, determining how athletes respond to stress imposed on their body by plyometric exercises.
- Durations of eccentric and concentric phases.
- Management of the entire body's movement during the jump (precision).
- Correct motor patterns.
