Measurement of the Impact Loads to Reduce Injuries in Acrobatic Gymnasts: Designing a Dedicated Platform

Background: The main objective of this study was the development of a specific load platform that would meet the needs of gymnasts and acrobatic coaches. This new platform has larger dimensions and is an identical structure to the plywood floor surface normally used; it was designed to make competitions with gymnasts safer and more like a real training situation. During a landing, there is high body stiffness, especially in the knees and ankles, which can cause injuries due to the number of repetitions performed in this gymnastics specialty. Methods: A group of 10 volunteers, with a mean age of 14.7 ± 2.4 years, performed at least 10 valid vertical jumps on each platform. Results: Despite being a preliminary study, this specific platform was shown to be more suitable for gymnastic use, compared to the industrial one, which represents a significant advantage for the modality. In fact, this platform is similar to the surface used for training and competition, allowing athletes to perform the jump in a similar way, and for the results to be replicable during the practice of the sport. The standard deviation values were lower, which shows that the new platform was more suitable for acrobatic gymnastics. Conclusions: As the maximum vertical load induced during landing after a jump has a significant effect on the likelihood of gymnasts suffering injuries, the development of a new load platform specifically for acrobatic gymnastics is clearly an improvement in this discipline. Knowledge of the load transmitted to the body can help coaches and athletes in defining training, and avoiding the possible occurrence of injuries. Therefore, it is necessary to use a platform that can accurately evaluate the load transmitted to the acrobatic gymnasts during real training and competition conditions, which is achieved with this new platform.