Stiffer gymnastics floors result in more dorsiflexed ankles, potentially increasing the risk for Achilles tendon ruptures

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One in five female collegiate gymnasts suffers an Achilles tendon rupture (ATR), primarily on floor exercise. Training floors are used daily, sometimes for over 10 years, while floors at competition sites are often new. Consequently, training floors feel “soft” and competition floors feel “stiff”. We hypothesized that the ankle joint angle is in a more dorsiflexed position on a “stiff” compared to a “soft” floor during impact, resulting in greater tension of the Achilles tendon and, consequently, a higher incidence of ATRs during competition. Female gymnasts from 78 US collegiate teams were invited to complete a survey, assessing whether ATR occurred at the training or competition sites, among other items. The ankle joint angles during landing from back-tumbling-take-offs on “soft” and “stiff” gymnastics floors were determined using video imaging. Statistical analysis was performed by Pearson’s Chi Square test or t-tests, as appropriate. Twenty-one out of 103 gymnasts (20.4%, 95% CI: 13.6% to 29.4%) experienced an ATR. Relative to time, ATRs occurred only 0.08±0.01 (95% CI: 0.06 to 0.11) times per 1000 hours on training floors, but 1.85±0.11 (95% CI: 1.60 to 2.10) times per 1000 hours (p<0.05) on competition floors. Ankle joint angles were in a more dorsiflexed position on the stiff (103.5±1.1 degree) than the soft floor (117.0±4.1 degree, p<0.05), implying greater tension on the Achilles tendon. We conclude that stiff floors favor more dorsiflexed ankle joints, increasing the tension on the Achilles tendon, and potentially explaining the higher relative incidence of ATRs at competition compared to training sites. This research was supported by the Offce of Research and Sponsored Programs at Burrell College of Osteopathic Medicine. This is the full abstract presented at the American Physiology Summit 2024 meeting and is only available in HTML format. There are no additional versions or additional content available for this abstract. Physiology was not involved in the peer review process.