LANDING STRATEGIES USED BY GYMNASTS ON DIFFERENT SURFACES

In this study, landing strategies of gymnasts were hypothesized to cha nge with different landing surfaces. This hypothesis was tested by com paring the kinematics and reaction force-time characteristics of two-f oot competition-style drop landings performed by male and female colle giate gymnasts onto three surfaces (soft mat, stiff mat, no mat). Sign ificantly lower peak vertical forces, longer landing phase times, and greater knee and hip flexion were observed between the no mat conditio n and the mat conditions. Knee flexion and peak knee flexion velocitie s were also observed to be significantly greater for landings on the s tiff mat than those on the soft mat. These results indicate that the g ymnasts in this study modulated total body stiffness in response to ch anges in landing surface conditions by using a multijoint solution. In addition, the presence of a mat may reduce the need for joint flexion and may alter the vertical impulse characteristics experienced during landing.