Compression Garments Reduce Soft Tissue Vibrations and Muscle Activations during Drop Jumps: An Accelerometry Evaluation.

Liqin Deng,Li Liu,Xini Zhang,Ying Fang,Chenhao Yang,Yang Yang,Weijie Fu

doi:10.3390/s21165644

Abstract

Objectives: To explore the effects of wearing compression garments on joint mechanics, soft tissue vibration and muscle activities during drop jumps. Methods: Twelve healthy male athletes were recruited to execute drop jumps from heights of 30, 45 and 60 cm whilst wearing compression shorts (CS) and control shorts (CON). Sagittal plane kinematics, ground reaction forces, accelerations of the quadriceps femoris (QF), hamstrings (HM) and shoe heel-cup, and electromyography images of the rectus femoris (RF) and biceps femoris (BF) were collected. Results: Compared with wearing CON, wearing CS significantly reduced the QF peak acceleration at 45 and 60 cm and the HM peak acceleration at 30 cm. Wearing CS significantly increased the damping coefficient for QF and HM at 60 cm compared with wearing CON. Moreover, the peak transmissibility when wearing CS was significantly lower than that when wearing CON for all soft tissue compartments and heights, except for QF at 30 cm. Wearing CS reduced the RF activity during the pre-, post-, and eccentric activations for all heights and concentric activations at 45 cm; it also reduced the BF activity during post- and eccentric activations at 30 and 60 cm, respectively. The hip and knee joint moments and power or jump height were unaffected by the garment type. Conclusion: Applying external compression can reduce soft tissue vibrations without compromising neuromuscular performance during strenuous physical activities that involve exposure to impact-induced vibrations.

Highlights

Wearing compression shorts (CS) significantly increased the hip θ cont and θ max-ext after foot contact compared with wearing control shorts (CON) for all heights, except for θ max-flx at 30 cm (Table 1)
The θ RoM values of the hip, knee joint kinematics, and jump height of CS and CON were similar for all heights
The results supported our hypothesis that CS significantly reduces soft tissue vibrations and decreases vibrationrelated muscle activity during drop jumps (DJs) without affecting joint kinetics or jump height

Summary

Introduction

Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. The majority of physical activities, including running and jumping, cause collisions between the ground and the human body. Transient shocks and local vibrations are generated, which are either absorbed or transmitted through soft tissues [1,2]. These vibration characteristics, including amplitude and frequency, are tissue-dependent [3,4], and the corresponding muscles are activated in response to the soft tissue vibrations [5]

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion