Impact Of Basketball Floor Stiffness On Lower Body Biomechanics During Landing

During a basketball game, players perform approximately 70 counter-movement-like jumps, with landing impact forces reaching up to seven times body weight. Repetitive landings pose a risk for overuse injuries, particularly to the knee and ankle, which are common sites of injury in basketball players. Customized basketball floors designed to reduce impact forces during landing may be useful for attenuating lower-body injury. PURPOSE: Our study aimed to evaluate the impact of basketball floor stiffness on lower body kinetics and kinematics during landing. METHODS: Nineteen recreationally active participants (mean ± SD: age = 25.7 ± 5.8 y; height = 171.8 ± 9.8 cm; weight = 73.4 ± 13.6 kg) performed five maximal barefoot countermovement jumps each on four different custom-made basketball floor samples of varying stiffness fitted to a force platform. Reflective markers were placed on specific anatomical landmarks on the right side of each participant to capture joint kinematic data at the hip, knee, and ankle using a high-speed 2D video camera. The countermovement jump with the highest peak vertical ground reaction force on each floor was used for analysis. Repeated measures ANOVAs were used to assess whether there were differences in landing impulse, peak vertical ground reaction force, and lower body joint angles during landing between the four floors. RESULTS: There were no differences in landing impulse or lower body joint angles between the floors (p > 0.05). However, there was a significant difference in peak vertical ground reaction force during landing between the floors (p = 0.01). Participants produced lower peak vertical ground reaction forces during landing on floor C (3917.1 ± 1432.4 N) compared to floor A (4667.9 ± 1584.9 N; p = 0.01). CONCLUSION: Floor stiffness elicited different peak vertical ground reaction force but did not affect landing impulse or lower body joint kinematics during landing. Our findings suggest that landing on a force-damping basketball floor may have the potential to reduce the risk of lower-body injuries among basketball players. Supported by: Action Flooring LLC