Performance of noncountermovement jump with both knee and hip joints fully extended

The relationships between neuromuscular performance and biomechanical variables were studied in maximum vertical jumps to examine the factors influencing the performance of a noncountermovement jump. Keeping their knee and hip joint fully extended, five healthy subjects performed four kinds of noncountermovement jumps and one countermovement jump, during which ankle joint angle, platform force, and surface electromyograms of a triceps surae muscle were recorded. In the four noncountermovement jumps, the magnitude of activation and force at the onset of a shortening contraction of the triceps surae muscle were controlled at four different levels. Performance parameters of the noncountermovement jumps, maximum angular velocity of the ankle angle and flight time, correlated with the platform force at the onset of the plantar flexion. Furthermore the integrated electromyograms of the triceps surae muscle before the plantar flexion were correlated with the maximum angular velocity of the ankle angle and the force at the plantar flexion onset. The findings suggest that the efficient utilization of the muscle characteristic contributes to an enhancement of the noncountermovement jump.