Kz long jummp practice map5/1/2023 ![]() The improved performance of long jumpers with BKA has led to speculation about a potential performance advantage compared to non-amputee athletes.Īthletes with BKA elicit lower anterior ground reaction forces and have longer contact times during the push-off from the starting blocks and the first step of the acceleration phase compared to non-amputees 10– 12. All ten of the finalists in the 2016 Paralympic Games with BKA (class T44) took off from their affected leg using an RSP. Today, the best long jumpers with BKA take off from their affected leg using a prosthesis. It is also assumed that non-amputee athletes are not using any form of leg prosthesis or similar device.) The improved performances of athletes with BKA were observed after the introduction of carbon-fibre prostheses that are designed to mimic the spring-like behaviour of the biological lower extremities during running and sprinting 9. (Note: For the purposes of this article, it is assumed that athletes with BKA have a unilateral amputation and use a running-specific prosthesis below the site of amputation. Indeed, the record distance of male athletes with below the knee amputation (BKA) using RSPs (8.40 m) has improved by 2.60 m (45%) since 1996 a resulting jump distance similar to those of current world-class non-amputee athletes, whose records have not changed during the same period. Therefore, it is reasonable to suppose that artificial limb designs featuring greater quantities of highly elastic components would perform better than their biological counterparts would during the take-off step in the long jump 8. RSPs allow for elastic energy storage and return, similar to tendons and ligaments of biological legs but do not simulate the action of muscle fibres because RSPs cannot generate mechanical energy by conversion of metabolic energy.Įlastic mechanisms play an important role in animals specialized for jumping tasks 3– 5, because the power returned from elastic elements is nearly independent of speed 4, 6, as opposed to the power developed by muscle fascicles 7. Unlike biological legs and feet, RSPs provide no sensory feedback and no control, cannot flex for ground clearance, and do not have the ability to change stiffness dynamically. RSPs are attached to a rigid socket that encompasses the residual limb and are thus in series with, or beneath, the residual limb. Today, long jumping is also an essential part of the competition program for Paralympic athletes with amputations using running specific prostheses (RSPs) that are made from carbon fibre. A successful long jump requires the maximization of controllable run-up speed followed by an efficient redirection of the centre-of-mass (CoM) velocity during the take-off step 2. Following current competition rules, the long jump is performed after a preceding approach run of self-selected distance. Jumping for distance may be one of the most traditional competitive events in sports, with potentially the earliest use of performance enhancing technical aids (handheld weights) first performed during the Ancient Greek Olympic Games 1. Our results suggest that due to different movement strategies, athletes with and without BKA should likely compete in separate categories for the long jump. Slower speeds might originate from intrinsically lower sprinting abilities of athletes with BKA or from more complex adaptions in sprinting mechanics due to the biomechanical and morphological differences induced by RSPs. We found slower maximum sprinting speeds in athletes with BKA, but did not find a difference in the overall vertical force from both legs of athletes with BKA compared to non-amputees. ![]() A maximum speed constraint imposed by the use of RSPs would indicate a performance disadvantage for the long jump. We show that athletes with BKA utilize a different, more effective take-off technique in the long jump, which provided the best athlete with BKA a performance advantage of at least 0.13 m compared to non-amputee athletes. Recently, a long jumper with a below the knee amputation (BKA) achieved jump distances similar to world-class athletes without amputations, using a carbon fibre running-specific prosthesis (RSP). The use of technological aids to improve sport performance (‘techno doping’) and inclusion of Paralympic athletes in Olympic events are matters of ongoing debate.
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