Tj. Michaud et al., GROUND REACTION FORCES IN HIGH-IMPACT AND LOW IMPACT AEROBIC DANCE, Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness, 33(4), 1993, pp. 359-366
The purpose of this study was to compare ground reaction forces (verti
cal and lateral) produced during commonly used high and impact aerobic
dance maneuvers. Eight experienced aerobic dance instructors were the
volunteer subjects. During the first session, three subjects were vid
eotaped performing 10 high and 10 low impact maneuvers that they commo
nly used in their own class routines. Seven of the high and nine of th
e low impact maneuvers were then selected and used in sessions 2 and 3
. During the second session, all subjects became proficient in perform
ing the chosen maneuvers to music while striking an AMTI force platfor
m with the right foot. During the third session, ground reaction force
data generated during footstrike were recorded for each movement. Of
the maneuvers examined, 5 high and four low impact maneuvers were used
in the data analysis. It was found that maximum vertical active peak
and vertical impact peak forces were lower for the low impact maneuver
s. Maximum lateral active peak and lateral impact peak forces were sim
ilar and highly variable in magnitude for the 2 types of dance. The lo
wer vertical loads produced in low impact dancing may make this type o
f dance better for minimizing lower extremity overuse injuries in aero
bic dance. However, there does not seem to be any advantage in emphasi
zing the use of low impact dance for minimizing lower extremity injuri
es that evolve from lateral shear forces.