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Necessary precautions in measuring correct vertical jumping height by means of force plate measurements
J Vanrenterghem1, D De Clercq, P Van Cleven
1Department of Movement and Sports Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ghent University, Belgium. Jos.Vanrenterghem@rug.ac.be
Abstract:
The present study was designed to investigate the determination of vertical jumping height by means of force plate measurements. Four different sources of error influence this determination: the measurement of body mass, the determination of take off, the integration frequency, and the assessment of the initial conditions influencing the determination of the start of the movement. A theoretical model was utilized to simulate the vertical ground reaction forces in vertical jumping and to compare the outcome of analytical and numerical double integration of the vertical acceleration of the body centre of mass. A high integration frequency and an optimizing loop for body mass determination were found to be important and should be taken into account when determining jumping height parameters.