Resumen de Mechanical Differences Between Adolescents and Adults During Two Landing Phases of a Drop Jump Task

Gavin L. Moir, Shawn N. Munford, Brandon W. Snyder, Shala E. Davis

• The mechanical differences between the first and second landing phases of a drop jump (DJ) task performed by adolescent and adult male players were investigated. Eleven adolescent basketball players (age: 16.5 +/- 0.7 years) and 11 resistance-trained adults (age: 22.3 +/- 1.9 years) performed DJs from a height of 0.40 m. Force plates and a 3-dimensional motion analysis system were used to determine mechanical variables, including landing velocity, normalized vertical stiffness, normalized peak impact force, and work as well as mechanical characteristics of the hip, knee, and ankle joints during the absorption phase of each landing. The adolescents produced greater peak impact forces (mean difference [Diff] = 42 N[middle dot]kg0.67; effect size [ES] = 1.15) and vertical stiffness