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Reducing ground reaction forces in gymnastics' landings may increase internal loading
Chris Mills1, Matthew T G Pain, Maurice R Yeadon
1Sport and Exercise Science Department, University of Portsmouth, Spinnaker Building, PO1 2ER, United Kingdom. chris.mills@port.ac.uk
Journal of Biomechanics
|March 14, 2009
Summary
Gymnasts can modify vault landings to reduce impact forces. However, minimizing ground reaction forces (GRF) may increase internal bone and muscle strain, potentially not reducing injury risk.
Area of Science:
- Biomechanics
- Sports Science
- Injury Prevention
Background:
- Gymnastics vault landings involve significant impact forces.
- Understanding how landing strategies affect internal loading is crucial for injury prevention.
Purpose of the Study:
- To determine optimal landing strategies for gymnasts that minimize both ground reaction forces (GRF) and internal forces.
- To investigate the trade-offs between minimizing GRF and internal loading during vault landings.
Main Methods:
- A subject-specific seven-link wobbling mass model of a gymnast and a multi-layer landing mat model were used.
- Subject-specific muscle models and a Simplex algorithm optimized muscle activation to minimize GRF or bone bending moments.
Main Results:
- Minimizing GRF reduced peak forces by 8-48% but increased most internal loading measures.
- Minimizing bone bending moments reduced internal loading by up to 27% and also decreased GRF in most cases.
- Optimizing for GRF reduction alone may not be appropriate for injury reduction.
Conclusions:
- Gymnasts can modify landing strategies to influence GRF and internal forces.
- Reducing GRF by altering landing strategy may increase internal loading, questioning its utility for injury prevention in vaulting.
