Abstract
Interactions between human movement and surfaces have previously been studied to understand the influence of surface properties on the mechanics and energetics of jumping. However, little is known about the muscle-tendon unit (MTU) mechanics associated with muscle activity and leg adjustments induced by different surfaces during this movement. This study aimed to examine the effects of three surfaces with different properties (artificial turf, hybrid turf, and athletic track) on the muscle mechanics and muscle excitation of the gastrocnemius medialis (GM) and vastus lateralis (VL) during maximal countermovement jumping (CMJ). Twelve participants performed maximal CMJs on the three sport surfaces. GM and VL muscle fascicles were simultaneously imaged using two ultrafast ultrasound systems (500 Hz). MTUs lengths were determined based on anthropometric models and two-dimensional joint kinematics. Surface electromyography (EMG) was used to record GM and VL muscle activity. Surface mechanical testing revealed systematic differences in surface mechanical properties (P = 0.006, η2: 0.26–0.32, large). Specifically, the highest force reduction and vertical deformation values have been observed on artificial turf (65 ± 2% and 9.0 ± 0.3 mm, respectively), while athletic track exhibited the lowest force reduction and vertical deformation values (28 ± 1% and 2.1 ± 0.1 mm, respectively) and the highest energy restitution (65 ± 1%). We observed no significant difference in CMJ performance between the three surfaces (∼35–36 cm, P = 0.66). GM and VL fascicle shortening (P = 0.90 and P = 0.94, respectively) and shortening velocity (P = 0.13 and P = 0.65, respectively) were also unaffected by the type of surface. However, when jumping from greater deformable surface, both GM muscle activity (P = 0.022, η2 = 0.18, large) and peak shortening velocity of GM MTU (P = 0.042, η2 = 0.10, medium) increased during the push-off phase. This resulted in a greater peak plantar flexion velocity late in the jump (P = 0.027, η2 = 0.13, medium). Our findings suggest that maximal vertical jumping tasks in humans is not affected by common sport surfaces with different mechanical properties. However, internal regulatory mechanisms exist to compensate for differences in surface properties.
Highlights
We ensured that countermovement jump (CMJ) performance reached a plateau during the familiarization by providing feedback about the jumping technique and flight distance
We found no influence of surface properties on muscle fascicle behavior of both gastrocnemius medialis (GM) and vastus lateralis (VL) muscles during maximal countermovement jumping
In a pilot analysis (N = 1), we found that when using a single short probe, dividing VL fascicle length by a reference VL fascicle length estimated on a quiet standing trial allowed to reduce the percentage of fascicle length extrapolation to 3 to 4% in comparison to VL fascicle length measured with a dual probe arrangement (∼20%; Hollville et al, 2019)
Summary
Maximal vertical jumping performance mainly depends on the mechanical power generated by the lower limb muscle-tendon units (MTU) during the push-off phase (Bobbert et al, 1986; Anderson and Pandy, 1993; Kurokawa et al, 2003; Farris et al, 2016; Nikolaidou et al, 2017; Wade et al, 2019). Tendinous tissues (connective tissues: extracellular matrix, aponeurosis, tendon) can act like springs by storing elastic strain energy and rapidly releasing it to power body movements (Alexander and Bennet-Clark, 1977; Roberts, 2016). This “catapult-like” mechanism allows the amplification of MTUs’ power outputs far beyond the contractile power capabilities of the muscle (Alexander and Bennet-Clark, 1977; Roberts and Azizi, 2011). This sequence is similar to the kinematics sequence of joint extension during jumping (Gregoire et al, 1984; Bobbert and van Ingen Schenau, 1988; Voigt et al, 1995) and allows the appropriate transformation of joint rotations into translation of the center of mass upward through the coordinated action of biarticular and monoarticular muscles during push-off (Gregoire et al, 1984; Van Ingen Schenau, 1989)
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