Validation of a force platform clinical for the assessment of vertical jump height

Abstract

Objective: the purpose of the present study was to analyze the concurrent validity and reliability of a force platform clinical COBS Feedback® for the estimation of the height of vertical jumps. Design: a cross-sectional correlational and comparative study. Setting: University Human Movement and Physiotherapy Laboratory. Participants: healthy university students (14 female and 13 male) aged between 18 and 25 years old (mean = 20.074 ±1.542). Main Outcome Measures: vertical jump heights, technical error and grade of agreement between methods of measurement. Results: after the 27 subjects performed a total of 135 vertical jumps on COBS Feedback® platform while simultaneously being recorded with a high-speed camera-based method, the intraclass correlation coefficient showed an almost perfect concordance between the two methods (ICC = 0.916, CI95%= 0.882 to 0.940, p < 0.001). The technical error of the COBS Feedback® against HSC-Kinovea video analysis was at 0.310±0.223m, being higher in males than in females (t= -2.822, CI95%: -0.376 to -0.574, p=0.001). Conclusions: the COBS Feedback® method provided a valid measurement of the flight times for estimate the vertical jump height as a number of well-known tests and devices.