Impact of accelerometer placement on assessment of vertical jump performance parameters

Abstract

The vertical jump has been widely used in a sport setting for the assessment of lower-body power. Recently, accelerometry has gained popularity as an inexpensive testing modality for assessment of vertical jump performance characteristics. However, accelerometer anatomical placement could affect the accuracy of the data collected. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of accelerometer placement on assessment of vertical jump performance parameters. Seventeen healthy recreationally active subjects performed three non-consecutive maximal vertical jumps with no arm swing. Subjects were instructed to keep the hands on the hips and reach 90-degrees internal knee flexion during the eccentric phase of the jumping motion. Two identical accelerometers sampling at 100 Hz were positioned on the abdomen (AB; 5 cm inferior to umbilicus) and on the hip (HP; 5 cm above greater trochanter). Both devices were secured with elastic bands and collected data simultaneously. Ground reaction force curves were computed from the raw accelerometry data from which the following variables were derived: peak concentric force (PCF), peak landing force (PLF), vertical jump height (VJH) based on flight time, and impulse (IMP) excluding subject’s body weight. No significant differences were found between AB and HP accelerometer placement for PCF, PLF, and IMP. However, despite a small effect size, HP accelerometer placement resulted in a significantly lower VJH by 1.2 cm. Additionally, strong agreement and consistency of the measurements were observed across all dependent variables examined in the present investigation, suggesting that both AB and HP accelerometer placements may seem appropriate for analysis of vertical jump performance.