Jornal de Yoga e Fisioterapia
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Influence of Visual Feedback on 3-Dimensional Forces in a Drop Jump Landing

Anand Shetty, Jake McFarland, Casey Gray, Spencer Gwin and Trevor Arellanes

Objective: To compare the mediolateral, anteroposterior and vertical ground reaction forces (GRF) of a drop jump landing (DJL) with eyes open and eyes closed conditions to analyze the effects of visual input on the body’s ability to modulate motion.

Methods: An experimental crossover research design was used for this study. Twenty-four subjects were recruited to participate containing male and female subjects. All subjects performed a DJL from a height of 24-inches onto a force plate below for a total of 6 alternating attempts of 3 eyes closed and 3 eyes open. Maximal GRF were analyzed for each condition in the anteroposterior, vertical and mediolateral directions and averaged for each participant.

Results: There was a statistical significance of the GRF analyzed when comparing the eyes closed with the eyes open drop jump landing in the vertical and mediolateral direction. The GRF in these directions were shown to decrease during a DJL with the eyes open condition. There was no statistical significance found in the GRF within the anteroposterior direction.

Conclusion: The results indicate that the absence of visual input had a significant effect on the GRF in the vertical and mediolateral directions indicating greater visual input is necessary to decrease the GRF imposed on the human body during a DJL. Although the anteroposterior direction GRF tended to increase during the eyes closed attempts of the DJL, the difference was determined to lack statistical significance. Future research is encouraged to study the effects on static or dynamic neuromuscular training with eyes closed to see if improvements will decrease VGRF.