Shoe Bending Stiffness Influence on Lower Extremity Energetics in Consecutive Jump Take-Off.

Objective: This study examined the influence of shoe bending stiffness on lower extremity energetics in the take-off phase of consecutive jump.

Methods: Fifteen basketball and volleyball players wearing control shoes and stiff shoes performed consecutive jumps. Joint angle, angular velocity, moments, power, jump height, take-off velocity, take-off time, and peak vertical ground reaction force data were simultaneously captured by motion capture system and force platform. Paired -tests were performed on data for the two shoe conditions that fit the normal distribution assumptions, otherwise Wilcoxon signed-rank tests.

Results: There are significant differences ( < 0.05) in take-off velocity and take-off time between stiff and control shoe conditions; the stiff shoes had faster take-off velocity and shorter take-off time than control shoes. There was no significant difference between two conditions in jump height ( = 0.512) and peak vertical ground reaction force ( = 0.589). The stiff shoes had significantly lower MTP dorsiflexion angle and greater joint work than the control shoes ( < 0.05). The MTP range of motion and maximum angular velocity in stiff shoe condition were significantly lower than those in control shoe condition ( < 0.01). However, there are no significant differences between two conditions in kinetics and kinematics of the ankle, knee, and hip joint.

Conclusions: The findings suggest that wearing stiff shoes can reduce the effect of participation of the MTP joint at work and optimize the energy structure of lower-limb movement during consecutive jumps.