Comparing the Electrical Activity of Selected Ankle Muscles in Athletes During Landing from Different Heights

Ankle injuries are one of the most common musculoskeletal injuries in atheletes. Proper landing after jumping leads to the preparation for the next skill as well as prevention of various ankle injuries. This study aims to compare the electrical activity of selected ankle muscles in athletes duirng landing from different heights.

 This is a comparative study. Participants were 15 athletes (Mean age= 18.23 ± 2.3 years, mean height= 183.190 ± 6.3 cm, mean weight= 64.72 ±14.12 kg) with 3-5 years of experience in championship competitions. The landing skill was assessed from different heights (50%, 75%, 100% of maximum jump height). Electrical activity of selected ankle joint muscles (Gastrocnemius and Soleus) was recorded using an eight-channel BIOMED electromyography device with 96.34% validity and 91.29% reliability. Mean and standard deviation were used to describe the data, Shapiro-Wilk test was used to evaluate the normality of data distribution, and repeated measures analysis of variance was used to compare the collected data between groups followed by Bonferroni post hoc test. The significance level was set at 0.05.

 There was no significant difference in co-contraction of medial/lateral gastrocnemius and soleus muscles after jumping from three different heights. The peak contraction amplitude of the lateral gastrocnemius muscle was significantly different between the heights 50-75% (P= 0.006) and 50-100% (P= 0.002). The peak contraction amplitude of the medial gastrocnemius muscle was also significantly different between the heights 50-75% (P= 0.002) and 50-100% (P= 0.007). The peak contraction amplitude of soleus muscles was significantly different between the heights 75-100% (P=0.013) and 50-100% (P= 0.17).

 There is an increase in the contractile activity of selected ankle muscles in the anterior-posterior plane caused by the increase in jump height and subsequent landing due to the optimal use of appropriate strategies to control the eccentric muscle contraction and the extensor torque of the ankle joint by increasing the electrical muscle activity during the ground contact, resulted in the prevention of injury to the ankle joint. Coaches and athletes can use these results to adopt training methods to strengthen these ankle muscles by considering the optimal implementation of landing skills with an injury prevention approach.