Tibial accelerations and ground reaction forces in basketball shoes from different landing heights

摘要

Basketball is a sport which places a considerable amount of stress on the lower extremities of players. Players perform an average of 70 jumps per game and may experience impact up to nine times body weight during landings (McClay et al., 1994). An inability to attenuate excessive impact forces might lead to impact- and stress-related injuries (Lephart, 2002). Most studies primarily focused on ground reaction force (GRF), but only little research investigated tibial accelerations for basketball shoe cushioning evaluation (Zhang, Clowers, Kohstall, & Yu, 2005). Tibial accelerations are good alternatives to GRF measurements for evaluating the shock attenuation mechanism and performance from footwear to lower extremity of the human body (Light et al. 1980; Mercer, Vance, Hreljac, & Hamill, 2002). Furthermore, it is currently unknown whether GRF and acceleration variable would display similar results in differentiating shoe performance during landing activities of various force intensities.