Plantar Pressures during Ski Jumping Take-Off

Abstract

The Paromed Datalogger® with two insole pressure transducers (16 sensors each, 200 Hz) was applied to study the feasibility of the system for measurement of plantar pressure distribution in ski jumping. The specific aim was to test the sensitivity of the Paromed system to the changes in plantar pressure distribution in ski jumping. Three international level ski jumpers served as subjects during the testing of the system. The Datalogger was fixed to the jumpers’ lower back under the jumping suit. A separate pulse was transmitted to the Datalogger and tape recorder in order to synchronize the logger information with photocell signals indicating the location of the jumper on the inrun. Test procedure showed that this system could be used in ski jumping with only minor disturbance to the jumper. The measured relative pressure increase during the inrun curve matched well the calculated relative centrifugal force (mv2 · r‒1), which thus serves a rough estimation of the system validity. Strong increase in pressure under the big toes compared to the heels (225% and 91%, respectively) with large interindividual differences characterized the take-off. These differences may reflect an unstable anteroposterior balance of a jumper while he tries to create a proper forward rotation for a good flight position.