Influence of forefoot bending stiffness on American football performance

摘要

A common injury in American football is strain and rupture of the plantar capsule ligament crossing the metatarsophalangeal (MTP) joint caused by hyperexten-sion, commonly termed turf-toe (Rodeo, O'Brien, Warren, Barnes, Wickiewicz, & Dillingham, 1990). One method to decrease the potential of an athlete suffering a turf-toe injury is to increase the stiffness of the forefoot, thereby limiting the ability of the athlete to bend their MTP joint. Increasing the forefoot stiffness has also been shown to improve performance during sprinting and jumping (Stefanyshyn & Fusco, 2004; Stefany-shyn & Nigg, 2000). Since these previous tests were conducted on different populations of athletes (American football players generally have a larger mass and perform different movements), it is unclear what magnitude of stiffness would be required to reduce MTP extension for these athletes, and how the magnitude of MTP stiffness would influence the performance of common football movements.