Abstract
While the main contributor for drop jump (DJ) performance is the calf muscle–tendon unit (MTU), for countermovement jump (CMJ) performance, it is the quadriceps MTU. However, to date, it is not clear if the muscle and/or tendon stiffness of the respective MTUs can be related to DJ or CMJ performance. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between DJ and CMJ performance parameters and tissue stiffness (i.e., muscle stiffness, tendon stiffness) of the calf MTU and quadriceps MTU, respectively. Consequently, with 16 healthy volunteers, the tissue stiffness of the gastrocnemius medialis (GM), gastrocnemius lateralis (GL) Achilles tendon (AT), vastus medialis (VM), vastus lateralis (VL), rectus femoris (RF), and patellar tendon (PT) were recorded with a Myoton device. Moreover, DJ and CMJ performances were assessed with a force plate. The alpha level was set to 0.05. Pearson correlation coefficients revealed no significant association between DJ performance and GM, GL, or AT stiffness (−0.07 to 0.24; p > 0.05). Similarly, no association was found between CMJ performance parameters and VM, VL, RF, or PT stiffness (−0.13–0.36; p > 0.05). According to our results, other variables, such as jump technique, body weight, or strength, were likely play a more important role in DJ and CMJ performance.
Highlights
The jumping ability of an individual is a predictor for performance in various types of sports in elite and recreational athletes [1,2,3], including sprint performance [4]
We hypothesized that drop jump (DJ) performance would be related to Achilles tendon stiffness, gastrocnemius medialis stiffness, and gastrocnemius lateralis stiffness
We assumed a relationship between countermovement jump (CMJ) performance to patellar tendon stiffness, rectus femoris stiffness, vastus medialis stiffness, and vastus lateralis stiffness
Summary
The jumping ability of an individual is a predictor for performance in various types of sports in elite and recreational athletes [1,2,3], including sprint performance [4]. The ability to jump was shown to be a predictor for functional capacity [5] and the risk of falling [6]. There is evidence that muscle [7] or tendon stiffness [8] can be a predictor for sprint performance, there is not much evidence relating muscle or tendon stiffness to jump performance. The most commonly used jump tests are the countermovement jump (CMJ), the squat jump (SQ), and the drop jump (DJ). A DJ is often associated with a fast stretch-shortening cycle (SSC), whereas it is a slow SSC for a CMJ [10]
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