Abstract
Little is known about the effect of whole body vibration (WBV) has on specific sports action such as taekwondo kicking technique. Fifteen individuals (10 males and 5 females; 18.6 ± 2.1 years), performed two experimental protocols on separate days: A) 1 minute exposure at 26 Hz frequency of WBV followed by countermovement jump (CMJ) test; B) 1 minute exposure at 26 Hz frequency of WBV followed by kick test. A Student’s t-Test analysis was performed to evaluate the difference between performance before and after vibration intervention. The CMJ height means (cm) were 34.1 ± 6.4 before and 34.2 ± 6.5 after WBV exposure. The CMJ maximal force means were 1582.6 ± 214.3 before WBV and 1595.7 ± 205.0 after WBV, while Impulse means (N.s) were 283.3 ± 48.6 before WBV and 282.6 ± 46.6 after WBV. The kick time means (ms) were 219.9±20.31 before WBV and 218.9±19.81 after WBV. No significant differences were found regarding the application of mechanical vibration for all variables. Thus, the vibration intervention (1 minute of WBV at 26 Hz and 6 mm) adopted in this present study may have not been substantial to improve Roundhouse kick time (p=0.73), jump height (p=0.80), maximal force (p=0.78) and impulse (p=0.38) of taekwondo athletes. Future studies should investigate new vibration protocols (amplitude, frequency) and training (intensity, exercise, duration) to determine optimal parameters.
Highlights
The ability to generate high power output is essential for sporting success, especially for combat sports such as taekwondo that requires athletes to have a high peak of anaerobic power of the lower limbs
All values obtained from the tests were normally distributed.Table 1 presents the mean and standard deviation from the values obtained from all variables before and after whole body vibration (WBV)
No significant difference was obtained between the measures before and after WBV of kick time (p=0.73), jump height (p=0.80), maximal force (p=0.78) and impulse (p=0.38)
Summary
The ability to generate high power output is essential for sporting success, especially for combat sports such as taekwondo that requires athletes to have a high peak of anaerobic power of the lower limbs. Taekwondo is characterized as an intermittent high-intensity sport, which demands motor actions of high and spinning kicks, jumps, changes of direction that control the distance between the opponent in preparation of subsequent kicks[1]. Recent studies have demonstrated that exposure to mechanical vibration can increase muscle strength and power acutely and chronically[2,3], and improve athletic performance[4]. For this aim, in the last decade, there has been growing interest to investigate the application of mechanical vibration. If muscle is potentiated from vibration it would benefit athletic activities that utilize the stretch-shortening cycle[6], such as the counter movement jump (CMJ). It has been suggested that the vibration stimulus is most effective when physical performance actions are performed rapidly[7]
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