Speed/Power Development
Nathan Reynosa, BS
Undergraduate Student
University of Texas at San Antonio
San antonio, Texas, United States
Matthew P. Gonzalez, MS, CSCS,*D
Doctoral Candidate
University of Texas at San Antonio
San Antonio, Texas, United States
Giselle Gonzalez
Undergraduate Student
University of Texas at San Antonio
san antonio, Texas, United States
Micah Galaviz, BS
Undergraduate Student
University of Texas at San Antonio
San Antonio, Texas, United States
Aleida Sanchez (she/her/hers)
Undergraduate Student
University of Texas at San Antonio
San Antonio, Texas, United States
Samuel Montalvo, PhD, CPSS., CSCS, *D
Post-Doctoral Research Fellow
Stanford University
Stanford, California, United States
Martin S. Dietze-Hermosa, CSCS,*D,
Professor
BYUI
Rexburg, Idaho, United States
Sandor Dorgo
Professor
University of Texas at San Antonio
san antonio, Texas, United States
Interlimb asymmetry has been identified as the differences in strength and performance between the limbs of an individual. The presence of asymmetry can vary depending on the demands of the sport. While track, football, and basketball have different sport demands, all require sprinting. Yet it remains unclear if the demands required by various sports result in differing interlimb asymmetries during sprinting and if that is a potential risk factor of an injury.
Purpose: To identify differences in contact time, flight time, and step length asymmetries during sprinting between basketball, football, and track athletes.
Methods: Ninety-three male collegiate athletes (basketball = 13, football = 66, and track = 14) completed two to three trials of sprints over 30 meters with sprint step kinematics measured with the Optojump-Next system. The best-timed trial of each athlete was analyzed with a focus on asymmetries in contact time, flight time, and step length over four steps. The average asymmetry between these steps was used for analysis. Asymmetries were quantified using the symmetry index equation [(higher value-lower value)/total*100]. A one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was then conducted to determine the differences in contact time, flight time, and step length asymmetries between the groups. Significance was set at an alpha level of p< 0.05.
Results: There was no significant difference in contact time asymmetries between the basketball (1.536 ± 0.912%), football (1.880 ± 1.499%), and track athletes (2.116 ± 0.858%) (p=0.537). There was no significant difference in flight time asymmetries between the basketball (4.262 ± 2.993%), football (4.080 ± 4.619%), and track athletes (2.730 ± 1.664%) (p=0.511). Finally, no significant differences were found in step length asymmetries between the basketball (1.117 ± 0.758%), football (1.997 ± 5.039%) and track athletes (1.194 ± 0.617%) (p=0.693).
Discussion: Despite differences in training between each sport, it appears that there is no significant differences in sprinting asymmetry between the three sports. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: Lack of differences in the spatiotemporal asymmetry variables during the sprinting indicate that current training methods yield similar and only minimal asymmetry patterns among basketball, football, and track athletes.
Acknowledgements: None